The Facts of Unlife
by Don Sample
Summary: Buffy and Dawn visit their father in L.A., and he starts to learn some of the facts of unlife.
1. Prologue

**_Prologue: In which Buffy learns her father is in business with some very shady characters_**

The bell chimed, and the elevator doors opened on the twenty-third floor of the Los Angeles office tower. Buffy stepped out, with Dawn a half step behind her and looked around at the opulent appointments of the head office lobby of Harmon and Ross. Plush carpeting covered the floors, and the wood paneled walls had an almost otherworldly luster to them. (Almost. Buffy had seen otherworldly, and these didn't quite qualify.) 

Buffy stepped toward the receptionist sitting behind an oak desk. "Hi. We're here to see Hank Summers. We're his daughters, Buffy and Dawn." 

The receptionist glanced at her computer monitor. It was one of the few items in the place that didn't look like an antique, but it didn't look cheap either. It was pretty clearly a state of the art flat panel, that seemed to function without any wires attached. Whatever she read off it met with her approval, and she pointed Buffy and Dawn down the hall to her left. "Mr. Summers is in the third suite on the right. He's expecting you." She flashed them a smile. "In fact he's been talking about your visit all week." 

"Thank you." Buffy smiled at the receptionist, and started down the indicated hallway. 

Dawn fell in beside her. Buffy noticed that her sister's nervousness was rapidly approaching panic intensity. "Will you relax? It's going to be fine." 

"How can I relax?" asked Dawn. "What if he doesn't like me? This is the first time I'm ever _really_ going to meet him." 

"Yeah, but _he_ doesn't know that," said Buffy. "He thinks you're the daughter that he's had for sixteen years. He loves you. He'll love you just as much as Mom and I did when we first met you two years ago." 

"You thought I was an enormous pain in the ass!" said Dawn. 

"That's what sisters are supposed to think about each other," said Buffy. "You thought the same thing about me. He's your Dad. He loves you." 

"If he loves me so much, why'd he disappear for nearly two years?" Dawn couldn't keep a note of bitterness out of her voice, and Buffy couldn't blame her for it. She shared Dawn's attitude about their father's two year European sabbatical. It had left them unable to contact him when their mother had first become ill, or when she had died. It had been even worse for Dawn, after Buffy herself died a couple of months later. She had been left alone, in the care of their friends, and a robot that looked like Buffy. (Buffy seemed to be the only one who didn't think the robot was that good a copy.) 

"He's back now," said Buffy. "And he wants to see us. Let's just relax and have fun. Here we are." 

Buffy swept her hand toward the open doorway, with the sign: 'Henry Summers, Director of Operations' on the window beside it. Dawn stepped through into the outer office with Buffy close on her heels. 

Buffy's eyes scanned the anteroom to her father's office. Plush, comfortable chairs for visitors to wait in, and a secretary's desk, complete with a very professional looking fifty-something secretary. The woman smiled at the Summers sisters. "You must be Buffy and Dawn. Your father is in a meeting right now, but I have instructions to buzz him out of it at noon sharp, if he hasn't escaped by then." She glanced at the clock on the wall. The time was 11:58. "Why don't you have a seat?" 

Dawn thanked the woman, and sat down. Buffy sat beside her. They didn't have to wait long. The door to the inner office opened, and a woman—tall, slender, dark shoulder length hair, about thirty years old in an expensive looking tailored business suit came out. She was followed by a man carrying a brief case. 

The 'man' immediately arrested Buffy's attention. All her Slayer senses were screaming "Vampire!" It wasn't the sort of vampire that Buffy was used to. This one was dressed almost as impeccably as the woman. His suit was off the rack, but it came from a good rack. While Buffy was familiar with a couple of vamps who put an effort into looking good, they tended toward leather, not business attire. This vamp looked like a junior executive, carrying his boss's briefcase. The woman was clearly the boss. 

Buffy heard a sharp intake of breath from Dawn. She glanced at her sister and saw Dawn nod toward the windowed wall separating the anteroom from the hallway. A quick glance showed that the woman's reflection was dimly visible in the window, but not that of her companion. Buffy looked back toward Dawn. "Good spotting." she mouthed silently, and turned her attention back to the people coming out of the office. Her right hand slipped inside her jacket, making sure that the stake she carried in the inner pocket was ready for quick access. 

The woman had turned back toward the inner office. "Mr. Summers, I do think you should reconsider our offer. It really would be best for you if you did." 

Hank Summers followed the vampire out of the office. He was not looking happy. His eyes glanced toward Dawn and Buffy, and a momentary expression of delight crossed his face, but it vanished again when his attention returned to the woman. "Ms. Morgan, as I have already told you several times, we are not interested in selling. That is my final word on this matter." 

"We'll just have to modify our offer," said Lilah Morgan. She gave Buffy and Dawn an appraising look. "I'll be in touch." She swept out of the office, with the vampire trailing behind. 

Hank Summers seemed to feel the same burden lifting off him that Buffy felt with the departing vampire. He turned back toward his daughters. "God, it is good to see you!" He held his arms open for a hug, that Buffy and Dawn were quick to join him in. 

"It's good to see you too, Daddy!" said Dawn as she wrapped her arms about her father. Buffy hugged him tightly too, but she couldn't help notice that Ms. Morgan had paused in the hallway outside, and was looking back in at them. A wicked smile crept across her face, before she moved off down the hall. 

Hank Summers pulled back for a better look at his daughters. "You two get more beautiful every time I see you!" he said. "And you've grown at least a foot!" he told Dawn. 

"Well, that can happen in two years," said Dawn. 

Hank couldn't help but notice the bitterness in his daughter's voice, and he hugged her again. "I am so sorry about that. There really isn't anything I can say, or do to make up my not being there for you when…" He couldn't bring himself to say it. "But I'm here now, and we are going to have a wonderful time together!" 

He looked back at his secretary. "Mrs. Johnson, I am out of the office until Monday morning. Any crisis requiring my attention will have to wait until then. I'm spending the weekend with my daughters!" 

Buffy and Dawn returned to the lobby with their father. He had an arm over each of their shoulders, and their arms were around his waist. Buffy saw Ms. Morgan and her vampire entering one of the elevators ahead of them. She didn't hold it for the Summers, something that Buffy was privately thankful for. She didn't think she could stand being that close to the vampire for an extended period, and it would be tough to stake it in an elevator without her father noticing. 

They discussed the logistics of the visit while they waited for the next elevator. Buffy and Dawn had left their bags in their Jeep Cherokee, which was in the visitor parking, so it was decided that they would take it to lunch, and then back to their father's apartment. He could pick up his own car later. 

* * *

Buffy saw the black limousine come out of the building's underground parking while they were all getting into the car. She had surrendered the keys to her father. He was driving since he knew this area of L.A. a lot better than she did. They followed the limo out through the parking lot gate. Buffy could barely see the two silhouetted figures in the back of it through the heavily tinted windows. 

* * *

Hank Summers drove them to an expensive looking Italian restaurant. The maitre d' recognised him as they entered, and told him that their table was ready. He escorted them to an intimate booth, set up for three. Dawn and her father took their seats. 

"Um, I have to visit the powder room," said Buffy. "Order me a glass of white wine. I'll be right back." Hank Summers raised his eyebrow a bit at that. "I _am_ twenty-one Dad," said Buffy. 

"You're just growing up too fast," said Hank as Buffy headed back toward the rest rooms at the front of the restaurant. 

Buffy waited until she was out of her father's sight before she pulled her cell phone out of her purse, and dialed a number from memory. 

"Angel Investigations!" said a falsely cheerful voice at the other end. "We help the helpless!" 

"Cordelia. I need to talk to Angel." 

All notes of cheerfulness vanished from Cordelia's voice. "Well you can't. I won't let you." 

"Cordy, this is important!" 

"One: it's noon, Angel's asleep, and he had a tough night cleaning out a nest of Klexar Demons, and two: whenever he talks to you he gets all broody, well broodier, for a week. So unless you can tell me that the world is going to end before sunset if you can't talk to Angel, I'm not going to wake him up." 

Buffy took a deep, calming breath. "Alright. I suppose it really isn't Angel I need right now. It's Angel Investigations. Can you find out who a license plate number belongs to?" 

"That's not nearly as easy as they make out on TV," said Cordelia. "And we've lost the only contact we had in the police department. Fred might be able to do something. She's even better than Willow when it comes to getting into computer systems that she isn't supposed to. What's the number." 

Buffy doubted if this Fred person (what sort of name was that for a girl?) was really better than Willow. Willow had picked up some very non-standard computer hacking abilities since Cordy had left Sunnydale. She let that go. "Black limousine, California plate, WH-006." 

"Damn!" said Cordelia. "I might have to wake Angel up after all. We don't need Fred. That limo belongs to Wolfram and Hart. An evil law firm." 

"Evil law firm?" asked Buffy. "Isn't that redundant?" 

"Ha. Ha. I laugh at the originalness of your jest," said Cordy. "Make that an Eviler law firm. Maybe Evilest. These guys don't just represent your garden variety criminals and politicians. If a demon wants to screw you, but cover its legal ass, it hires Wolfram and Hart. Angel has messed up several of their best laid plans over the past couple of years, and as a result they have kinda made a special project out of trying to drive him crazy. They have had some limited successes on that front, if you can call him letting Drusilla and Darla slaughter most of their Special Projects division a 'success.' What's your interest in Wolfram and Hart?" 

"Dawn and I are in town to visit Dad," said Buffy. "When we arrived he was in a meeting with a woman, who was accompanied by a vampire. I want to know what they're up to. The woman's name was Morgan." 

"Brunette, thirtyish, buys her clothes someplace you could never afford?" asked Cordy. 

"That's the one." 

"Lilah Morgan. Took over Special Projects after the slaughter. Wolfram and Hart does do some legitimate legal work from time to time, but if she's involved it ain't legit. If she was taking the meeting in person, it's a big deal. What was she doing with your dad?" 

"I don't know," said Buffy. "But whatever it was, she didn't leave the meeting happy. Dad wasn't doing whatever it was she wanted him to do." 

"That's good news and bad news," said Cordelia. "The good news is that your dad isn't a collaborator with an evil bitch. The bad news is that this particular evil bitch is _very_ dangerous when things aren't going her way. You really have no idea what this was about?" 

"I just know that my dad was refusing to sell something that this Morgan woman wanted." 

Cordelia sighed. "Until you can give us more to work with, I don't see any point in waking Angel, but I'll get Fred digging, see if she find out anything. What does your father do?" 

Buffy filled Cordelia in on the little she knew about her father's recent promotion at Harmon and Ross, an engineering and construction corporation. She had never really paid much attention to just what he did before, or what a 'Director of Operations' was. She returned to the table and found Dawn and her father laughing together about something that hadn't really happened when they visited San Diego together three years ago. 

Buffy sipped at her wine while she looked over the menu. Dawn and her father had already made their decisions, and the waiter was standing by, unobtrusively waiting for an indication from Buffy that she was ready too. He was right there as soon as she closed the menu and set it down on the table. 

After the waiter had left again Buffy tried to casually ask her father about the meeting he'd been in when they arrived. 

"What is it with you two?" asked Hank Summers. "Suddenly you're both interested in boring real estate deals. Some law firm wants to buy a bit of property that we don't want to sell. We have our own plans for that land. Now I don't want to be talking about my job through this whole visit. What have you been up to?" 

Buffy let herself be diverted. She was momentarily annoyed that Dawn had tried to pump their father for information about this Morgan woman ahead of her, but once she had a moment to think about it she decided it didn't really matter which of them had tried it first. Dawn was good at wheedling information out of people, and their father clearly just wasn't going to talk about it. 

After lunch the three Summers spent the afternoon seeing some of the sights of L.A. Hank Summers had some contacts with someone at Universal Studios which let them get an up close look at a TV location shoot. It wasn't for a show that either Buffy or Dawn had much interest in, but it was still fun to get a behind the scenes look at how it was done. They returned to their father's apartment after dinner at another restaurant. 


	2. Chapter 1

**_Chapter 1: In which Hank gets introduced to vampires_**

Buffy was cleaning up in the bathroom when she heard a knock at the apartment door. She heard a bit of muffled conversation, and then her father saying "Come in." He didn't sound happy about it. 

A couple of seconds later she heard a shriek from Dawn. "_Buffy! Vampires! Three of them!_" 

Dawn dashed past the open bathroom door and Buffy heard a bedroom door slam shut. A vampire ran past a second later and she heard it hit the door. 

A second vampire followed the first, and it stopped by the bathroom door. It looked at Buffy and smiled, showing its fangs. Buffy kicked it in the face. 

The vampire staggered back across the hall, into the entrance to the kitchen. Buffy kicked it again, driving it farther into the kitchen. She looked around for a weapon, and saw the knife block on the counter. She pulled out the largest knife available, a carving knife with a nine inch blade. 

The vampire smiled, believing itself safe from the steel weapon. It lunged toward Buffy. 

Buffy slashed at the vampire's throat. Her father had good knives, and he kept them sharp. The vampire barely had time to look surprised as the knife sliced through its neck, separating its head from its body. The head and body dissolved into dust before either had a chance to hit the ground. 

Buffy heard the bedroom door frame splinter behind her. She dashed back out into the hall, and saw the vampire after Dawn staggering back, holding a smoking face. Dawn had a cross in one hand, and a spray bottle of holy water in the other. She hit the vamp with another squirt. 

Dawn grabbed a piece of the splintered door frame and tossed it over the vamp to her sister. Buffy caught it, and plunged it into the vampire's back. Two down. 

Buffy held up three fingers. "Three?" she asked silently. 

Dawn echoed the gesture. "Three," she mouthed back. 

Buffy nodded, and indicated with some quick hand gestures what she wanted Dawn to do. Dawn had been accompanying Buffy on patrols for six months now, and they had learned an abbreviated form of sign language to communicate silently with each other. Dawn nodded understanding of what she was supposed to do. It was a familiar role. A lot of Sunnydale's denizens of the dark had learned that it wasn't a good idea to attack the helpless looking little blonde girl walking alone at night, so Dawn had sometimes taken over the role of "bait" while Buffy lurked hidden in the shadows, ready to kill anything that looked like it might be thinking of eating her. 

Dawn ran out of the hallway into the apartment's living room, and swerved right toward the door out of the apartment. She saw the vampire holding her father drop him, and move to cut her off. Dawn reversed directions. "_Clear!_" she yelled. 

Buffy stepped out of the hallway, with her knife at the ready. Dawn's signal told her that her father was out of the line of fire. Her quick glance showed her father slumped on the floor by the wall, the vampire blocking the foyer, and Dawn heading in the other direction. The vampire was still watching Dawn, and hadn't seen Buffy. She let the knife fly. 

The carving knife wasn't balanced for throwing, but Buffy had practiced with a large variety of knives, and this one was better than most. It struck home in the vampire's throat, and drove straight through, severing its spinal column too. 

Buffy was moving almost as fast as the knife, just in case she'd missed, but she hadn't. The vampire was collapsing, and she reached it before it hit the floor. She made sure that it hit the floor hard. 

Buffy didn't really understand the magic that made vampires dust when staked or beheaded. She was sure that there was probably some obscure Watcher treatise on the subject, or a paper written by some dead Initiative scientist, but whatever it was, putting a knife through a vamp's spinal column didn't kill it. But vampires still relied on a lot of their host's anatomy, and cutting their spinal columns paralyzed them as effectively as it did a human, for a while at least. 

Buffy heard her father groaning, and looked toward him. Dawn was already giving him a quick check over. "No bites." she reported. "Looks like he just had his head bashed." She felt around the back of her father's head. 

"Ow!" said Hank. 

Dawn pulled her hand away with blood on her fingertips. "Bit of a scalp wound." She looked at her father's eyes. "Pupils look good. How do you feel Dad? Who's President? Any nausea?" 

"My head hurts, Dubbya Bush, and no. What the hell just happened?" 

Buffy and Dawn exchanged a look. "We'll explain after Dawn gets you patched up," said Buffy. She nodded her sister toward the bathroom, before she held out her hand toward her. "Holy water," Buffy mouthed silently. 

Dawn's eyebrows went up, but she pulled her spray bottle out of her pocket and handed it over to Buffy as she helped her father get to his feet. She steered him back toward the bathroom. 

Buffy turned her attention back to the vampire on the floor. Now that she had a chance to look at it, she recognised it as the vamp that had been in her father's office earlier that day. "Now, I know you can't talk with that knife in your throat, but before I pull it out, I want you to think about the advantages of cooperation." She waved the bottle of holy water in front of its face. "You and your friends attacked my sister, and my father. Your friends got off easy. Their deaths were quick and painless. You get to live in pain until I learn why the hell you attacked us." She squirted a little holy water into its face to make sure it got the message. 

Buffy left the knife in place while she had a quick look for something to tie the vampire up with. She found a roll of duct tape in the section of the front closet that her father kept his meager supply of tools in. She used the entire roll, wrapping the vampire up like a grey mummy before she pulled the knife free. 

"Now, I know that it's going to take a minute or two before you can talk," said Buffy, "so I'm going to tell you what I already know, before we get around to you answering my questions, just so that we understand each other a little better. 

"You are a vampire. You work for Lilah Morgan. Lilah Morgan works for Wolfram and Hart, the law firm of choice for the Evil Dead. Unless I cut your head right off, I can't kill you with this knife." Buffy stabbed the knife into the vampire's heart. "I can hurt you quite a bit with it though. What does Lilah Morgan want with my father?" 

The vampire gasped in pain. "I don't know." 

Buffy twisted the knife, and the vampire cried out in pain again. "I guess I wasn't clear enough the first time. I know that you sat through a meeting between them. What was it that they discussed?" 

"Ask him!" said the vampire. 

Buffy grabbed the vampire by the hair, and bounced its head off the floor. "Oh, I will, just to make sure you aren't lying before I let you die, but right now I'm asking you. What does Lilah Morgan want?" She held the spray bottle in front of the vampire's face again. 

"Harmon and Ross owns some property in Pasadena that Wolfram and Hart wants," said the vampire. "I don't know why!" 

"See how much easier it is when you cooperate?" asked Buffy. "Let's change subjects. Why did you come here tonight?" 

"To persuade him to sell!" 

"What, with your winning personalities?" asked Buffy. "How were you going to do that?" 

The vampire didn't say anything. Buffy reached up to her neck, and pulled the necklace she was wearing over her head. She dangled the cross over the vampire's face. "How?" 

The vampire still kept its mouth shut. Buffy grabbed its jaw, forced its mouth open, and dropped the cross in. She forced the vampire's mouth closed, and held it as it struggled. "Now normally I don't like torturing even soulless things like vampires, but you will live in pain until you answer my questions." Buffy pulled the cross free. "Why did you attack us?" 

"We were supposed to turn you!" gasped the vampire. "You and the other girl. Then use you to control your father!" 

Buffy felt a cold fury building in her. Up until now she had mostly been acting, and seriously in danger of losing her dinner over what she had been doing to this vampire, but she stopped acting. She took the knife and cut one of the vampire's ears off. It turned to dust in her hand. "My best friend flayed the guy who murdered her lover in an instant. I'm thinking he got off lucky. You were going to turn my _sister_!" She put the knife behind it's other ear. 

"It was Morgan's plan!" screamed the vampire. "She's waiting out front for us to report back!" 

Buffy sat back. "She's waiting?" She glanced at the clock, it was 8:30. "How long?" 

"I'm supposed to report by nine!" said the vampire. 

Buffy stood up, and did a quick turn around the apartment. She saw her father and Dawn standing by the hallway entrance looking at her. They both looked like they wanted to throw up. Buffy glanced back toward the vampire trussed up on the floor. "How much of that did you see?" 

"We came in at the ear, but we heard all of it," said Dawn. "You weren't exactly quiet." 

"So, was it telling the truth about Pasadena?" Buffy asked her dad. 

Hank Summers was still looking a little dazed. "Um, yeah…Buffy. What is going on?" 

Buffy closed her eyes. "God, you sound like Mom, when she found out." 

"What?" asked Hank. 

"Never mind. Quick version." Buffy pointed to the vampire on the floor. "That is a vampire. I am a Vampire Slayer. I have been a Vampire Slayer ever since my final year at Hemery. I burned down the gym to kill a whole mess of them." 

"Shit!" said the vamp on the floor. "You're the Slayer! I'm gonna kill that Morgan bitch for sending me up against the Slayer without warning me!" 

"You hadn't figured that out?" asked Buffy. She looked back toward her father. "Vampires: not noted for their smarts." 

"Buffy, vampires aren't real," said Hank. "They're the stuff of bad movies." 

"People like to think that, but they are real. Just take a look at this guy's face." Buffy pointed at the vamp on the floor, but saw that it had reverted back to its human form. She held up the bottle of holy water. "Ah, ah, show him your fangs, or I'll have to show him some of the more painful differences between people and vamps…painful for you that is." 

The vampire snarled, and transformed back into its demonic form. It bared its fangs. 

Buffy smiled down at it. "Good boy. Stay." She glanced back at the clock, she only had twenty five minutes left. She went for her purse. 

"Buffy—" 

Buffy held up a hand to stop her father. "Just give me a couple of minutes, and then I'm yours to ask all the questions you want." She pulled out her cell phone and hit the redial button. 

"Angel Investigations. We—" 

"Get me Angel. Now!" 

Cordelia knew not to argue with that tone of voice. Buffy heard a slightly muffled "It's her again," before Angel came on the phone a couple of seconds later. 

"Buffy. What's up?" 

Buffy gave Angel her father's address. "Can you get here by nine?" 

"It'll be close, but I should be able to," said Angel, "but you still haven't told me what's up." 

"Get moving," said Buffy. "Have you got a cell phone? … Okay." She gave Angel her cell number. "Call me back when you're on your way. I'll explain then." She closed her phone and looked back toward her father. 

"You're promising to explain a lot of things to a lot of different people, but I still haven't heard much of any sort of explanation from you," said Hank. 

Buffy sighed. "We really need Giles. He's much better at the explanation thing… Okay, here we go: Vampires are demons, or rather human corpses animated by a demonic soul. They are, with maybe one or two extraordinary exceptions _Evil_, with a capital 'E'. For as long as there have been vampires there has been the Slayer. A Chosen One. One girl in all the world, with the strength and skill to stop the spread of their evil blah blah blah. I'm the girl who got the short straw last time the choosing got done. I have no idea how or why that happened, but it did, and there is no way for me to become unchosen. 

"I have been the Slayer for seven years now. In that time I have fought and killed hundreds, maybe even a thousand or so vampires, and other assorted demons. I stopped counting at a hundred, and that was about six years ago. Mom and Dawn found out about it four years ago." 

Buffy prodded the vampire on the floor with her toe. "This is a vampire. It is an animated corpse. It has no pulse, it doesn't need to breathe." She looked at her sister. "I have a mirror in my bag, would you please get it?" Dawn left, and Buffy returned to her lecture. "When she gets back we'll show you that it has no reflection. 

"Vampires feed off people. When this thing looks at you, it's probably thinking 'lunch.' One vamp I know referred to us as 'happy meals with legs.' 

"Vampires don't age, they will live forever if nothing comes along to kill them. They can be killed by a wooden stake through the heart, beheading, fire, or exposure to sunlight. They are burned by holy water, and crosses, and are seriously allergic to garlic. Other than that, not much will do permanent injury to one. You can cut off pieces, and they take a long time coming back, but a vamp will heal most wounds pretty quickly. This guy has pretty much recovered from having a knife through its throat, and its heart." 

Buffy was interrupted by her cell phone. "I'll just give you some time to think about that while I talk with Angel." She saw that Dawn was coming back. "Dawn can answer your questions, and show you the mirror thing." 

Buffy opened up her phone. "Angel? … Okay, here's what's going on…" Buffy told him about the attack by the three vampires, and what she'd learned from the vampire she captured. "Here's what I want you to do: This Morgan person is supposed to be waiting out front for a report from her pet vampire that's due by nine. We still have fifteen minutes till he's late. I want you to make the report instead. I don't want her to know that Dawn and I took these guys out. … No she didn't actually get a kill tonight, but she got two major assists. Anyway, Morgan pretty clearly has no idea about who I am, and I want to keep it that way. The more she underestimates me the more I like it, so I want her to think that you were here all along, and that you took these guys out yourself. 

"We know that she wants to get her hands on a piece of property in Pasadena, but we don't know _why_, so that's the other thing I want to see if you can learn for me, think you can?" 

Buffy listened to Angel's answer. While he didn't come right out and say it, she had the impression that he and Morgan knew each other pretty well. Well enough that he knew that she'd know that any actual physical threats from him would be mostly bluff. He didn't expect to learn anything useful from her. That was okay with Buffy, as long as the first goal, of keeping her identity a secret was attained. 


	3. Chapter 2

**_Chapter 2: In which Hank meets one of Buffy's old boyfriends_**

"Okay Buffy, we're here," said Angel. "I'm parked around the corner about a block away. I'll send Wes and the others up to you, while I go have my chat with Lilah. Is there a back way into your dad's building so they won't be seen?" Angel heard Buffy asking her father about a back door, and she relayed his reply. 

Angel sent Wesley, Gunn and Fred in the back way while he cautiously approached the corner. He checked his watch. He still had five minutes, so there was no need to rush this. Angel peeked around the corner and saw the black limo parked about half way down the block. He was coming at it from behind, so he didn't have to worry about someone spotting him in the mirror. Lilah was used to having him just pop up, so there shouldn't be any problem with her not seeing him come out of the building ahead of the limo. 

Angel moved quickly and silently down the sidewalk. He was examining the car carefully. He could see the silhouette of a woman in the back, and a driver in the front. The woman in the back seemed to checking her watch frequently. When he got closer Angel started paying special attention to the side mirrors. They showed an empty front seat. Buffy's informant had neglected to tell her that Lilah's driver was a vampire too, not that Angel expected that to cause him any problems. 

Angel took one last look around to make sure that no one was watching, and put on a burst of speed just before he got to the back bumper of the limo. He was around to the driver's side door in an instant. He smashed through the window with his fist, and grabbed the driver by its collar. He pulled it half way out through the window before his stake plunged into the vampire's back. He reached in and pulled the keys out of the ignition. 

Angel heard the snick of automatic car locks closing. He tried the back door, and wasn't surprised to find it locked. "Come on Lilah, you know that won't stop me, but I hate sitting on broken glass. Open up." 

The locks snicked again, and Angel opened the door. He saw Lilah Morgan sitting in the far back corner with a cross in her hand as he climbed in. He smiled at it as he took the seat farthest away from her. "Now Lilah, I thought we knew each other better than that." 

"What are you doing here?" asked Lilah Morgan. 

"That's supposed to be my line," said Angel. "What is so important about some bit of land in Pasadena that you'd let three…" He glanced back toward the front seat of the limo. "…well, four now, of your pet vampires be killed to get it. I know vamps are cheap, and you can always get more, but four vamps well enough behaved to take out in polite society are hard to come by." 

* * *

Dawn was putting the vacuum cleaner away in the front hall cupboard after cleaning up the last of the vampire dust. Her father was still having serious problems adjusting his world view. Even seeing the third vampire turn to dust when Buffy staked it in front of him didn't leave him fully convinced. Buffy had him sitting on the sofa with a glass of scotch. He seemed to have retreated into his private thoughts. He reminded Buffy of her mother just after she found out, and she hoped that the next half hour would go better. 

Dawn heard a knock at the door, and looked through the peephole. "Buffy! It's Mr. Wyndam-Pryce, and a couple of others." 

"Let 'em in!" said Buffy. 

Dawn opened the door. "Hi, Mr. Wyndam-Pryce!" She stepped back from the door to make room for them to enter, without saying "come in." It was a habit she had developed over the last couple of years in Sunnydale. 

Wesley smiled. He recognised the reflex. "Dawn! Good to see you again. God you've grown! Call me 'Wesley.' 'Mr. Wyndam-Pryce' takes too long." 

"Okay, Wesley." Dawn was a little surprised. This man was quite a bit different from the stuck up prig who had left Sunnydale three years ago. She couldn't recall not seeing Wesley in a three piece suit before, and he looked like he hadn't shaved today. It gave him a ruggedly handsome look that she approved of. 

Wesley and his companions stepped across the threshold into the apartment, and Wes made introductions. "Dawn, I would like to present Winifred Burkle, and Charles Gunn. Fred and Gunn, Dawn Summers." 

Greetings were exchanged. Dawn thought that Gunn was every bit as handsome as Wesley had become. His shaved head looked very sexy, and he had a warm smile. Fred was a pretty petite brunette with a charming Texas accent. She seemed to be rather shy. Dawn also noticed that she was carrying a laptop computer bag. 

Dawn took a look out into the hall. "This is it? No Cordelia?" She sounded rather pleased by that. 

"Cordy will be along in a while," said Wesley. "She went to pick up some reference materials that I think we may need to try and figure this thing out, assuming Lilah isn't going to be very forthcoming with Angel." 

Dawn took them all into the living room, and made the round of introductions. Gunn was rather surprised when he met Buffy. "This is the Slayer? I was expecting some six foot amazon." 

Buffy smiled sourly. "I get that a lot. Angel said pretty much the same thing, the first time I knocked him on his ass." 

Gunn's eyebrow went up at the thought of this little girl knocking Angel on his anything. Wesley read his reaction. "Don't let her size fool you. The one time she and Angel were really trying to kill each other, she won." 

Gunn and Fred both shot Buffy a look. 

"Long story. We don't have time for it now," said Buffy. "Have you guys got anything on what this Morgan woman is up to?" 

Fred pulled her TiBook out of its bag. "Is there a phone line or something I can hook up to?" 

"Um…one of Dad's neighbours has an unsecured WiFi network," said Dawn. "You could use my iBook." She saw the disapproving look Buffy was giving her. "Hey, it's not my fault they left their network open! And I didn't really do anything with it. I just saw it was there. Willow does a lot worse things when working to save the world from evil than piggybacking off someone else's internet connection, like that little back door she's got into the Coroner's computers." 

Fred smiled at Dawn. "That's okay. I've got WiFi too, thanks for the info." She set her TiBook down on the coffee table, and sat on the sofa beside Mr. Summers. She quickly connected to the neighbour's base station, with Dawn looking over her shoulder, and supplying a couple of bits of configuration information that made it clear to Buffy that she'd done a lot more than "just saw it was there." Willow was teaching that girl some bad habits. Buffy was going to have to have a talk with both of them. 

Fred started pulling up files on her computer. "Okay, based on what you told Cordelia earlier, I pulled the records out of Harmon and Ross's computers on their current projects, and cross referenced with Wolfram and Hart to see if there were any matches. We got three, but two of them aren't in Pasadena, so that leaves this one. Is it the Del Mar project that Wolfram and Hart is interested in?" she asked Mr. Summers. 

"Uh, yeah…" Hank leaned forward, coming out of his daze a bit, and looked at Fred's computer screen. "How did you get those files. They're _supposed_ to be confidential." 

Fred looked embarrassed. "Um…when this is over you should talk to your IT people. They're a couple of security patches behind." Fred didn't tell him that she'd exploited a hole she'd discovered on her own, that no one had a patch for yet. 

"I'll do that," said Hank. 

"Anyway…" Fred typed a couple of commands into her computer. "I pulled up the ownership history on the property in question, and cross referenced that with our database of weird, or supernatural occurrences in Los Angeles County and came up with this." Fred pulled up a brief newspaper report from 1953: 
    
    
    POLICE HAVE NO CLUES IN MULTIPLE HOMICIDE
    (Pasadena CA) Police officials are remaining silent
    about their progress investigating the multiple murders
    that took place at an exclusive Pasadena club last
    Thursday. They have released no details about how
    twelve people died in the club, but sources close to
    the investigation who wish to remain anonymous report
    that all of the victims had their throats slashed.
    Police dismiss rumors that there was any sort of Satanic
    ritual involved in the deaths.
      
    
    

"There's more, but it all adds up to 'we don't know anything.'" said Fred. "But a lot of the newspaper files from that far back have never been scanned, and it's pretty clear that the police did their usual sweeping under the carpet about what really happened anyway. I asked Cordelia to go check the L.A. Times morgue to see if they've got more info. She knows a guy there who'll let her in after hours." 

"A newspaper has a morgue?" asked Dawn. 

"That's what newspapers call their files of past issues Honey," said Hank Summers. He noticed the surprised look Buffy was giving him. "Hey, I used to watch _Lou Grant_." 

"Ah. Classic TV," said Buffy. 

* * *

Angel sat looking at Lilah for a moment, thinking about what to do next. She hadn't told him anything, not that he'd expected her to. He sighed, and reached for her purse. 

"Hey!" Lilah tried to snatch it away, but Angel was too quick. He opened it up and pulled out her cell phone. He crushed it in his hand. Next he picked up the handset for the phone built into the car, and ripped it out. 

"I guess you're going to have to walk to a pay phone to call yourself a taxi or something," said Angel as he got out of the limo again. "There's one at the 7-11 just around the corner there." He pointed east. 

Angel paused long enough to do the same with the car phone in the driver's compartment before he started to walk toward the entrance to Hank Summers' apartment building. He took the limo keys out of his pocket and tossed them into a storm sewer. 

Angel looked back toward the limo as he went inside. He saw Lilah starting to walk west. In some ways she was so predictable. There really was a 7-11 just around the corner to the east. He had no idea how far she'd have to go west. 

* * *

Angel knocked at the door to Hank Summers' apartment. He heard movement inside, and a few seconds later saw that someone had looked out the peephole. "It's Angel," said a muffled voice. 

The door swung open, and Angel saw Dawn. 'Damn, but she's gotten beautiful!' was his first thought which he quickly pushed back down. Way down. He watched her step back from the door, but she didn't say anything. 

"Uh, I need an invitation," said Angel. 

"Oh yeah, come on in." 

Angel stepped forward, and bounced back. "I need an invitation from your dad." 

Buffy had been coming toward the door too, but she turned back to her father. "Dad, invite Angel in." 

"What?" Angel saw Hank Summers get up and start to come toward the door too. 

"Invite him in," said Buffy. "A vampire can't come in without an invitation. Angel is one of those extraordinary exceptions to the 'all vampires are _Evil_' rule I told you about." 

'One of?' thought Angel. "There's more than one?" he asked out loud. 

"Aw…long story, I'll have to explain it later," said Buffy. 

"Wait a minute. Isn't this the guy that…" Hank pointed back toward Wesley. "…_he_ said was trying to kill you once?" 

"Another long story," said Buffy. "We don't have time for this. Just invite him!" 

Hank Summers looked suspiciously back and forth between Angel, and his daughter for a few seconds. "All right Mr. Angel. Please come in." 

"Thank you sir." Angel stepped inside. "Hey, Dawn. You've gotten taller." 

Dawn turned away, and headed back to the sofa. "Yeah, I keep hearing that." 

Angel reached out his hand to Buffy's father. "Mr. Summers, it's a pleasure to finally meet you." 

Hank Summers shook Angel's hand. It was surprisingly cool to the touch, and something about Angel's attitude made him think that he was being introduced to one of Buffy's boyfriends, who was very nervous about how Dad was going to react to him. "So, have you known my daughter long?" 

"Um, about six years," said Angel. "But we haven't seen each other much since I left Sunnydale three years ago." 

Everyone returned back to the living room. "So how'd it go with this Morgan woman?" asked Buffy. 

"Lilah believes that I killed the vamps she sent to kill you. She has no idea you're the Slayer, and she told me nothing about what her interest in your father is," said Angel. "I left her looking for a pay phone to get transportation home." 

Buffy couldn't help noticing that everyone from Angel Investigations seemed to be on a first name basis with this Morgan woman. She let that slide. "So she has no idea what a Slayer is?" 

"No…" said Angel. "Unfortunately she does. A couple of years ago she and a couple of her colleagues tried to hire Faith to kill me. You came in on the tail end of that, remember?" 

Buffy hissed in a breath of air through gritted teeth. "Oh, yeah…" 

"Faith?" asked Mr. Summers. He saw Buffy start to take a deep breath. "I know. Long story. No time. Tell me later." 

"I've been saying that a lot tonight haven't I?" asked Buffy. Her dad nodded. "Sorry." 

Buffy turned back to the others. "Okay, so what do we know? It seems that almost fifty years ago someone did some sort of ritual sacrifice on the site of Dad's new project. Maybe someone wants to do it again, on the fiftyth anniversary of the first sacrifice, but that's still months away. Why the sudden rush now?" 

"We start demolition of the old structure on Monday," said Hank Summers. "Maybe something got left behind." 

"Ah," said Buffy. "That gives them a deadline. Dad, will killing you stop this project?" 

"Nope. It's going ahead with or without me," said Hank Summers. "I've got the authority to kill the project, and sell the land, but if I did that I'd be down at the unemployment office right after." 

"Okay, so Lilah Morgan probably won't try to kill you. She may make another try at me and Dawn, to force you to sell, but that seems less likely since she failed once, and knows that we'll be on guard now. What else could she try?" 

"There's always legal action," said Angel. "No one can put out requests for restraining orders faster than Wolfram and Hart when they put their mind to it, and they've got a fair number of judges in their pockets, who will grant them on the flimsiest excuses. I'm surprised they haven't done that to you yet." 

"Oh, they have," said Mr. Summers. "This project has already been delayed a couple of months, but as you said, the excuses have been pretty flimsy, and we managed to get them overturned without too much difficulty. They may come up with something new on Monday though. If they keep it up long enough we might just sell to them, to end the nuisance, but they haven't gotten close to costing us that much yet, and the longer they keep it up, the more annoyed Harmon and Ross are going to get with them. They might hold out just for spite, and then give someone else a bargain." 

"So Harmon and Ross are actual people?" asked Gunn. 

"Yeah. They own the company," said Mr. Summers. "Mr. Harmon and Ms. Ross are also the only other people who have the authority to kill this project." 

"Might Wolfram and Hart make a try for them?" asked Dawn. 

"They're both out of the country, and, being rich, they tend to have good security people around them, and their families," said Mr. Summers. "But I suppose we should warn them… What the hell could I tell them that wouldn't have them thinking I've gone nuts?" 

"That is always the problem." says Buffy. "Cordy mentioned something about you losing your friend in the police department?" she asked Angel. 

"Kate stuck her nose into one too many cases that her bosses didn't want looked into," said Angel. "She's on more or less permanent medical suspension. They say the stress got to her." 

"I suppose we could phone in an anonymous tip," said Wesley. "That tends to put security people on a higher state of alert." 

"I can do that," said Gunn. "I'll find a pay phone. Not too close a one." He got to his feet. "Who should I call?" 

Hank grabbed a pen, and a pad of paper. He wrote down a number. "Here's the number for the company's security desk. They'll probably take a warning from someone who knows to call it more seriously." He ripped off the top page and handed it to Gunn. 

"Go east," said Angel. "I sent Lilah west looking for a phone." He tossed Gunn the keys to the Plymouth. "I guess you can park the car in front when you get back." 

Fred got up too. "I'll come with you." They left the apartment together. 

"So what else might they try?" asked Buffy. 

"If they really do want to do this ceremony again, do they have to do it on schedule?" asked Dawn. "Could they maybe do it early?" 

"Insufficient information," said Wesley. "We really have no idea what sort of ritual it was, what it was supposed to accomplish, or how, or why. Some rituals are very time specific. Others are more flexible. But if Lilah _could_ do the ritual ahead of schedule, why put so much effort into stopping, or delaying the demolition?" 

"How about we move up our schedule," said Buffy. "If there is something there that they don't want destroyed, how about we destroy it early?" She grinned. "I haven't burned down, or blown up anything for a couple of years." 

"It might be a good idea to take a look," said Angel. "Hopefully we can find a less drastic way of destroying…whatever it is." 

There was another knock on the door. Dawn got up to go answer it. "I didn't expect Gunn and Fred to get back so soon." She checked through the peephole, and turned around. "Uh, guys? It's Cordelia, and it looks like she's got a green demon with little red horns with her." 

"Oh, that'll be Lorne," said Wesley. "He's a friend." 

"Wait a minute," said Mr. Summers. "There's a demon in my hallway, and you're telling me that it's okay to invite it in?" 

"Some demons are very nice people," said Buffy. "They aren't all evil monsters. Dawn has a couple of demon friends herself." She looked at Angel. "You sure this guy's okay?" 

"We've known him for a couple of years." says Angel. "He's helped us out of some tight spots. You can trust him." 

"Okay." Dawn opened the door. "Hi, Cordelia." 

"Dawn! Hey! Oh my god—" 

"Yeah, yeah, I've grown. I've heard." 

"Well, yeah. Duh! I haven't seen you in three years, of course you've grown. I was going to say you look great! You seem to have inherited your mother's fashion genes…the ones Buffy didn't get." 

"Hello Cordelia," said Buffy. "It's nice to see some things don't change." 

"Hi Buffy," said Cordy. "Uh, Buffy Summers, Krevlorneswath of the Deathwok Clan." 

Lorne held out his hand. "Just call me Lorne. I'm trying to forget most of the rest of my family." 

Buffy shook the demon's hand. "Hi. This is my sister Dawn, and the dazed and confused looking man over there is my father Hank." 

Hank Summers blinked, and shook his head. "This is all too much for me. You're really a demon? That isn't just a makeup job?" 

"Well, I do use a little eyeliner, but for the most part, it's my natural skin colour." 

Hank blinked again, and started looking around. "Where did I put that scotch?" 

Angel noted that Cordelia was carrying a large manilla envelope. "So did you find anything?" 

"I did." Cordelia opened the envelope and started pulling out papers. "Oh yeah, we also saw Lilah Morgan, about half a mile west. She was walking away from here." 

"I told her there was a pay phone just a block to the east," said Angel. "At least we know she isn't putting some new plan into action yet." 

People gathered around the coffee table again as Cordelia layed out photocopies of newspaper articles from 1953. "It seems that on February 13, 1953, someone slaughtered twelve people in the basement of the Chalajuaxis Club. The police did a very thorough job of keeping the newspapers from getting any real information about what happened. This is all I could find." Cordy handed one of the pages to Angel. "This is the only crime scene photo that got out to the public, and it doesn't show much. The bodies are all still there, but they're covered in sheets. It looks like they were laid out in a hexagonal pattern." 

Angel handed the page to Buffy. She could see the rough shapes of twelve bodies under the sheets. Six of them laid out like the spokes of a wheel, with the other six forming a hexagon around them. She handed the page to Wesley. 

"The police never made much of any sort of official statements about what happened, beyond that there were twelve dead, and they were treating it as a homicide," said Cordelia. "The crime was never solved, and theoretically there's still a file for it somewhere in LAPD's cold case files, but I'm betting that they 'lost' it long ago. My friend at the paper checked the bylines for the stories we found, and the reporters all retired long ago. He promised to check to see if he can find any current addresses for them, that aren't cemeteries. Most of what they got came from unofficial sources, so they may have had information that they didn't put into any of the articles, or maybe they might remember the names of some of the police officers involved in the investigation." 

Cordy handed another page to Angel. "According to this report, which was based on 'anonymous sources in the Coroner's office' the six inner bodies were all female, and the six around them were all male. All of the bodies were nude, and they all died from having their throats cut. There was very little blood at the scene, but the lividity patterns indicated that the people died where they were found. All of the bodies had a hexagonal pattern, similar to the way they were layed out, branded on their foreheads." 

Cordelia looked up at the rather spooked expression on Dawn's face. "Are you sure you should be hearing this?" 

Hank Summers had been too busy feeling a little queasy himself to think about the effect this conversation might be having on his daughter. "Uh, yeah Honny, maybe you should, um, wait in your room till we're done here." 

"No, no, I'm fine," said Dawn. "This stuff is nothing. Who do you think took over raiding the Sunnydale Coroner's computers while Willow was off in England with Giles? Buffy's hopeless with computers." 

"She has seen a lot worse…heck half the TV shows she watches have more gore than this," said Buffy. She gave Dawn a look. "Something is bugging you though. What is it?" 

"It's him." Dawn pointed at Lorne. "He keeps staring at me. It's creeping me out." 

"Oh, I'm sorry kiddo," said Lorne. "I just can't help myself. You have got the most amazing aura I have ever seen. It's incredible! All green and—" 

"_STOP!_" barked Buffy in her command voice. Lorne stopped. Nearly everyone looked stunned, except for Buffy, who was angry, and Dawn, who was scared. Buffy turned to Angel. "How much to you trust this guy, really?" 

Angel started to say something, but he stopped, and thought for a moment. He could still read Buffy better than he had read anyone in his over two centuries of unlife, and he could see that her anger was masking a deep down scared too. He sucked back his initially planned response of 'absolutely' and went with something less glib. "He has risked his life for each of us, on more than one occasion. He has never lied to me, that I know of. He has never betrayed a confidence that I asked him to keep." 

Buffy looked at Cordy and Wesley. "You guys agree with that?" They nodded. 

"Buffy, what is going on?" asked Cordelia. 

"Just a minute," said Buffy. She got to her feet. "Dawn and I have to have a private chat with Lorne." She indicated they should follow her as she walked toward the back bedrooms. 

Buffy led Lorne and Dawn into the room that she was sharing with Dawn. The door wouldn't latch in the splintered doorframe, so she shoved a chair against it before turning on Lorne. "Tell us what you saw." 

"Just this incredibly beautiful green swirling…light. God I could stare at that for days. There are no words for it. If I could put it to music it would make Mozart sound…Pylean!" 

"Pylean?" 

"Oh, that's where I'm from. There's no music in Pylea. That's kinda why I left. I was the only person in the whole dimension who had any idea that they were missing out on something so wonderful…" He looked at Dawn. "But you…Never sing for me. I think it would kill me." 

"Huh?" asked Buffy and Dawn together. 

"Oh, didn't anyone tell you?" Lorne looked surprised. "I normally have to listen to people sing to read their auras. The music amplifies them, makes them clearer. I can sometimes see a little something in people with a particularly strong destiny." He gave Buffy a good look. "You have a very nice shimmer to you. Lots of destiny, I guess that goes with the Slayer gig." He looked back at Dawn again. "Amplify that, and I think I could lose my soul in it." 

"Do you have any idea what's causing Dawn's aura?" asked Buffy. 

"None whatsoever!" 

"Good!" said Buffy. "Keep it that way." 

Buffy stayed silent for a moment that seemed to drag on forever. "Okay. Here's the deal, subject to Dawn's approval: Angel, Wes, and Cordy trust you, so I'm going to trust you. Angel said you can keep a confidence, so you are going to keep this one closer than any other you have ever heard. You will keep it like your life depends on it, because it does. You will not mention anything about what you see in Dawn's aura to _anyone_ without Dawn's approval. Not even to Angel. If I ever learn that you have violated our confidence, I _will_ hunt you down, and cut your head off. Do you give us your word to _never_ talk about this in any way ever again?" 

"You got it, Sugar. I won't breathe a word to anyone." 

"Good enough?" Buffy asked Dawn. 

"I guess it will have to be," said Dawn. 

Buffy looked at Dawn, and saw that she did understand the situation. They either trusted Lorne, or they killed him. There really wasn't any other option. Buffy could see that Lorne had figured that out too. She wasn't sure how that made her feel. 

"Oh, one thing," said Lorne. "Kind of a token of my good faith." 

"What?" asked Buffy. 

"I don't spread this around much, but decapitation won't kill me," said Lorne. "To do that you have to chop me up into little pieces." 

"Thank you," said Buffy. "That's…good to know." She pulled the chair away from the door. "Shall we rejoin the others?" 

Buffy saw that Gunn and Fred had returned while they had been talking with Lorne. They looked almost as puzzled as everyone else who was sitting around the coffee table. She sighed. "What did you tell them about what happened?" 

"Just that you were having a private conversation with Lorne," said Angel. "Nothing about the events that led up to it." 

"Okay. Sorry about that everyone," said Buffy. "We have asked Lorne not to discuss this matter any further with anyone, and received his word that he won't. I would also like to ask that none of you ask him about it either. We would also appreciate it if you don't mention this incident to anyone else, or even discuss it amongst yourselves." Buffy looked around the room, making sure she made eye contact with each of them. "This matter has nothing to do with our current problem, and lives depend on it remaining a closely guarded secret." Buffy could see from the glances that Wes, Cordy, Angel and her father made toward Dawn that they guessed who's life depended on it, but she couldn't help that, and it probably helped to ensure their cooperation. She could also see that her father really wanted to ask some more questions, but he was keeping quiet for now. "So, anything new with you guys?" 

"No," said Wesley. "The other reports that Cordelia found don't contain any additional information, and the later ones just seem to devolve into wild speculation, until they peter out. I would like to consult my books about this 'Chalajuaxis.' It sounds familiar. It might be the name of some demon or something." 

"Well, you good people don't need me!" said Lorne. "I've got a Charago Demon waiting for a reading. Cordelia, can I borrow your car?" 

Angel looked around at Buffy, Dawn and their father. He rose to his feet. "Actually, I think we've all done pretty much all we can do here for tonight. Wes wants to hit his books back at the office." 

Wesley got the message. The Summers family needed some time for a private chat of their own. "Oh yes: 'Chalajuaxis.' I have to look that up." 

Buffy smiled a "thank you" at Angel. Dawn helped Fred pack up her computer, and Cordelia told Buffy she could keep the pages she'd brought. She'd made another copy. Everyone headed for the door. 

"Thanks again guys," said Buffy. "It's good to see you all again…even you Cordelia." 

"Nice seeing you too Buffy," said Cordy. "We must do it again…in another couple of years." 

Buffy closed the door after the last of them was out, and turned back to her sister and father. 

"Wesley has turned into a total hunk!" said Dawn. "And that Gunn guy's not bad either." 

"Dawn. Wesley's a little old for you, and from the way Fred was sticking to him, I think Gunn's taken." 

"Hey, you're the one who had the 240 year old boyfriend when she was sixteen," said Dawn. 

"Buffy. I think it's time you told me some of those 'long stories.'" said Hank. 


	4. Chapter 3

**_Chapter 3: In which Hank learns that Dawn has a secret too _**

Angel and the others left through the front entrance of the apartment building. Angel scanned the street, looking for anything out of the ordinary. He didn't see anything. "Cordy, could you drive the others back to the office? I want to stick around, just in case Lilah does try to send someone else." 

"Okay, but don't blame me when Buffy catches you," said Cordelia. "You know she hates it when you go all secret protector on her. Some would say it borders on stalking." 

"Just take the others back the hotel," said Angel. "You want to stick around too Gunn? I can't watch both sides of the building at once." 

"Sure man, no problem." Gunn smiled at Fred. "I think my Friday night plans got called on account of research anyway. Hey, if you see Lilah, why don't you offer her a lift?" 

* * *

Hank sat on the sofa watching his daughters. Buffy had already given him a couple of demonstrations of how strong and fast she was. Hank's gaze kept creeping back to the crowbar he'd kept in his tool closet that now looked like a pretzel. He was watching Dawn attack Buffy—or try to anyway. For over a minute Dawn had punched and kicked at her sister without really hitting her once. Buffy had dodged or blocked everything. Hank had tried karate back when he was in college, and he could see that Dawn was really trying to hit her sister, and she was pretty good at it, but she never came close. 

Buffy ended the demonstration by catching Dawn's bare foot mid kick, with one hand. "Dawn and I actually do practice this one." she told her father. "But not as a rigged demonstration. I practice fighting someone I don't want to hurt, and she practices trying to hit someone who's a heck of a lot faster than she is. We don't really have enough room to do this properly here, so she wasn't trying as hard as she usually does. If she actually manages to hit me, she gets out of doing the dishes for a week. When was the last time you went a week without doing dishes Dawn?" 

"June." 

Buffy grinned. "She conspired with Xander to have him provide a distraction." 

Buffy and Dawn pushed the big comfy chairs they'd moved aside to give themselves some space back into place and sat back down facing their father. He could see that Dawn was breathing hard, and sweating a bit after her workout, but Buffy showed no sign that she'd been working at all. "Okay. I get that you're strong, and fast, and that you've received some sort of mystical calling…but how does Dawn figure into this? That green guy said something about her, that freaked you both out. What was that about?" 

Buffy looked across at her sister. "It's up to you. What do we tell him?" 

"Plan B," said Dawn. Buffy nodded. They had discussed telling their father about the Key, and Plan B was the one that they had both agreed was best, if they said anything: 'Tell the truth, but not all of it.' 

"Plan B?" asked Hank. "What was Plan A?" 

"Not tell you anything," said Buffy. She didn't mention the existence of Plan C: 'Include the stuff about all his memories being made up.' She looked at Dawn. "It's your story." 

Dawn took a deep breath. "A long time ago, in a galaxy far away…" She saw the look Buffy was giving her. "Hey, it beats 'once upon a time!'" 

"Dawn, it sounds like a fairy tale already, you don't have to make it less believable." 

"Okay. A long time ago, someone, somewhere, somehow, nobody knows anymore, created this thing called 'the Key.' The Key is living energy. It is immensely powerful, and ageless. It has been passed down through the ages, and most knowledge about it has been lost. The reasons for its creation have been forgotten, as well as most of its abilities. Only a couple of its uses are still known. 

"Wars have been fought to possess the Key, or to destroy it, but the Key has survived. For the last thousand or so years it was in the possession of a bunch of European monks known as the Order of Dagon. They kept the Key hidden while they tried to study it, and to unlock some of its secrets. No one knows how successful the monks were, because they're all dead. 

"A little over two years ago, an exiled hellgod named Glory discovered where the Key was hidden, and she went after it. One of the things that the Key could do was send her back home, and she really wanted to do that. She started slaughtering the Order of Dagon as she searched for it. 

"The last few surviving monks knew that they had to find a new hiding place for the Key. They also wanted to provide the Key with a protector. The protector had to be someone powerful enough to stand against Glory, or anyone else who tried to take or destroy the Key. It had to be someone who would not let the Key be destroyed. 

"And one of them came up with this great way to accomplish all that, in a way that would keep even their appointed protector of the Key from knowing anything about it. They put the Key into the Slayer's sister." 

"What?" asked Hank. 

"Dawn has the Key inside her," said Buffy. "They knew that I would protect her from anything, no matter what. I wouldn't let Glory have her. I wouldn't let the Knights of Byzantium destroy her." 

"The Knights of who?" asked Hank. 

"Byzantium," said Buffy. "An ancient order, dedicated to the destruction of the Key. They think that the Key is too dangerous to exist." 

"Why is this Key so dangerous?" asked Hank. 

Buffy and Dawn exchanged another look. Dawn felt almost like she could read her sister's mind: 'You're the one telling this story.' 

"The Key can destroy the universe," said Dawn. 

"And by universe we mean _everything_," said Buffy. "Hell, Heaven, and everything in between, including the Earth. The Key can destroy everything." 

"There's really a Heaven?" asked Hank. 

"And a Hell," said Buffy. "I've been to both… Heaven was harder to let go of." Buffy paused for a moment. Dawn could see that her sister still mourned that loss. Buffy pulled herself back. "Actually there are several of both…possibly an infinite number of heavenly or hellish dimensions, and every sort in between. That Lorne guy is actually from another dimension, named Pylea." 

"And he saw the Key?" 

"Yeah," said Buffy. "Some people gifted with second sight, and some crazy people can actually see it when they look at Dawn. Lorne is very gifted. He says it's the most beautiful thing he's ever seen. I explained to him that if he breathes a word of that to anyone, I'll kill him." 

"You'd do that?" asked Hank. 

"The important question is whether or not he believes that," said Buffy. "And I think he does, but, if anything ever happens to Dawn, because he didn't keep quiet… Yeah, I'll kill him." 

Hank Summers was taken aback by the coldness in his daughter's voice. He looked at the young woman sitting facing him and wondered where his little girl had gone. He was used to thinking of her as an innocent, but he realized that he was very mistaken. Most of his daughter's innocence had been burned away long ago. 

Buffy saw the look in her father's eyes. She'd seen it before in her mother's. "Dad, I…" 

"I know Buffy. You'll do what needs to be done." Hank sighed. "It's tough for a parent to see that their child has grown up… But it's worse to have a child who doesn't grow up." 

Buffy and Dawn were both left silent by that. They knew what their father meant, but neither of them could help thinking about the other meaning of what he had said: Slayers didn't have a high life expectancy. 

Hank knew he had to change the subject, but he couldn't think of a question to improve the mood, so the first one that came to mind popped out. "What did your mother know about all this?" 

"Mom knew pretty much all of it before…" Buffy lowered her head for a moment before continuing. "She knew about Dawn being the Key, and me being the Slayer. We didn't know some of the details about what the Key did, or why Glory wanted it until after, but she knew all the important stuff…and she'd known about me being the Slayer for a couple of years before that. She never liked it, but she came to accept it. She didn't have a choice." 

"She was proud of you, Buffy," said Dawn. "God, I used to get so jealous of the way she felt about you. She knew what you did for the world, and she saw what it did to you, and how you handled it, and she loved you all the more for it. She never felt that way about me." 

Buffy got out of her chair, and squeezed in beside her sister in the other one. She wrapped her arms around Dawn. "Yes she did. You were the smart one, who didn't get in trouble and burn down school buildings. You were the one she could take to her book club. She didn't get the chance to see you grow into being a woman, but I know she'd be as proud of you as I am." 

Hank watched his daughters together for a while, before his curiosity overcame him. "When we left the story, the monks of dog-gone had cooked up their scheme to hide the Key without anyone, even you, knowing about it. How did you learn?" 

"Oh," said Buffy. "The first clue came from Mom." She hugged Dawn again. "We told you that some crazy people can see the Key? Well, when Mom started getting sick, she started getting these flashes that there was something…different about Dawn. I did a spell—" 

"Spell?" asked Hank. 

"Spell," said Buffy. "Magic. Incantations, smelly herbs, circles of sacred sand, other stuff. Magic—_real_ magic—works if you know what you're doing. Anyway, I did a spell to show spells—sort of a magic detector spell—and it showed that some _major_ mojo had been worked on Dawn. I tracked the source down to the last surviving Monk of Dagon. Glory was torturing him at the time, trying to learn where the Key had gone. I rescued him, and he told me what they had done before he died." 

"And this Glory person—" 

"God," said Buffy. 

"God," said Hank. "What happened to her?" 

"I killed her," said Buffy. She saw her father's expression. "Glory is one of the most evil things I ever met. She didn't just kill people—though there are dozens of people that I know she killed. She stole people's minds. She sucked the sanity out of them. And she was going to kill Dawn, and maybe billions more if we hadn't stopped her." 

"We?" asked Hank. 

"Our friends back in Sunnydale," said Buffy. "Willow and Tara, Xander and Anya, Giles…even Spike. We would have lost Dawn without their help." 

"And this other group, the Knights?" asked Hank. 

"Of Byzantium," said Buffy. "As far as we know, as a group, they still exist, and they still want the Key destroyed. Glory killed all of the Knights who had learned about Dawn, and any who survived near Sunnydale might believe that the Key has been destroyed. We haven't gone digging to see how many of them are still out there. Any such action by us might alert them that we have the Key." Buffy paused for a moment. "I don't want to have to fight them again. The Knights aren't really evil. The Key _is_ dangerous to keep around. A hundred or so years from now, after Dawn has died from old age after living a long full life I might let them have it. They aren't getting to it sooner though." 

"This is all very hard to believe," said Hank. "If I hadn't seen that guy turn to dust, or any of that other stuff tonight I wouldn't believe any of it. How can this stuff be kept secret?" 

"Because most people don't want to believe it," said Buffy. "They forget or ignore most of it, and come up with all sorts of explanations for the stuff that they can't do that with. The Sunnydale newspaper is really quite amusing if you know what to read between the lines for…or it would be if there wasn't so much death in it." 

"Sunnydale is about the only place in the world where 'neck rupture' is considered death by natural causes," said Dawn. 

"Neck rupture?" asked Hank. 

"That's the usual explanation for someone who's been killed by a vampire," said Buffy. "If they didn't slip and fall on a barbecue fork." 

Buffy could see that her father's eyes were glazing over again. She glanced at the clock. "Look, it's almost midnight. Why don't we call it a night? We've given you a lot to think over." Buffy got up out of the chair. "I expect that we're going to be busy tomorrow. A good night's sleep will do us all good." 

"I'm not sure how much sleeping I'll be able to do," said Hank. 

* * *

Buffy got out of the double bed that she was sharing with Dawn, and silently left their bedroom. She moved quietly through the darkened apartment, and then out onto the balcony. The night air felt cool through her pajamas. 

Buffy could feel that Angel was still close by. She knew he had never really left. Normally that would have annoyed her, but after the attack on her family, she was happy to have the backup nearby. 

She looked down from the fourteenth floor balcony, trying to see if she could see him. She didn't spot Angel, but she saw the tall, bald black man standing in the shadows a little way down the block, in a position where he could see the front and one side of the building. She figured that Angel must have taken the opposite corner. She smiled with an idea. 

* * *

Gunn looked at his watch, and yawned. It was nearly four AM. A couple more hours and Angel would have to call it a night, or a morning, or whatever. Gunn was pretty sure that if anything new hadn't happened by now, it wasn't going to. 

"Hey," said a voice behind him. 

Gunn jumped and spun around. "Jesus! Where did you come from?" 

Buffy was standing smiling at him. He had been looking that way not ten seconds ago, and there had been no one there. He couldn't see how anyone could have gotten that close without him spotting them. She held out a thermos. "I thought you might like some coffee, since Angel put you on guard duty. It's black. I've got some Coffee Mate and sugar too, if you like it that way." 

Gunn took the thermos, and started to pour some coffee into the lid cup. "Thanks, but you still didn't answer my question." 

"I'm the Slayer," said Buffy. "Plus I took sneaky lessons from Angel for a couple of years. It helped that I could see you from upstairs, so I knew exactly where you were." 

"You could see me?" 

"From upstairs," said Buffy. "I have excellent night vision. I doubt if anyone else could have spotted you. A vampire maybe, but it would have to already be inside. You wouldn't happen to know exactly where Angel is would you? I want to see if I can sneak up on him too." 

* * *

Buffy didn't quite manage to take Angel by surprise. Gunn had only a rough idea where he was, so he managed to spot her about the same time she spotted him. She left the half full thermos with him, and returned to the apartment. 

Buffy could see that there was a light on inside when she opened the door. She wasn't surprised to see that her father was up. She'd known that he wasn't asleep when she went out. She could hear him tossing in his bed. He was back on the sofa in his pajamas and a robe. "Hi Dad." 

"Hi sweetheart. Where did you get to? I smelled coffee, and then heard you go out." 

Buffy hung her jacket back up in the closet. "Oh, Angel and Gunn decided to stick around on guard duty. I just took some coffee out to them." 

"I don't recall them saying anything about that." 

"They didn't," said Buffy. "I just know Angel. I knew he'd do it. You really should be sleeping." 

"So should you," said her father. 

"I don't really need much sleep," said Buffy. "It's another Slayer thing." She sat back down in one of the chairs facing him. 

"And I can't sleep," said Hank. "I just lie there thinking about all the things I didn't know about my daughters." 

"So you've had a chance to think things over now. What are the top questions you want to ask?" 

* * *

It was nearly six AM when Buffy climbed back into bed. She had to nudge Dawn to get her to roll over to make room for her. She and her father had talked about a lot of things. Her relationship with Angel, and the story of his soul (Buffy left out just how he lost it) as well as other things. They had spent a lot of time talking about Dawn, not about the Key, just normal stuff, how she was doing in school, her friends and such. He seemed relieved to learn that Dawn had no serious boyfriends yet. 


	5. Chapter 4

**_Chapter 4: In which Hank keeps the engine running in the getaway car_**

Buffy awoke to the smell of coffee, and the sound of the shower running. She could feel the warmth of Dawn snuggled up against her back. Morning sunlight was streaming in the window. 

Buffy reached out to the bedside table to get her watch. It was just after eight. Normally Buffy would consider that much too early to be getting out of bed on a Saturday, but she knew that she had things to do. She rolled out of bed, and went to get herself some of that coffee. 

Buffy waited until she had finished her own shower before she went back and rousted Dawn out of bed. The two sisters had a very pleasant breakfast with their father, with no talk of vampires, Slayers, Keys, or anything else out of the ordinary. It was the sort of breakfast that Buffy had started out this weekend hoping they'd have. It was interrupted by the ringing of Buffy's cell phone. 

Buffy went back to their bedroom to get her phone out of its charger. "Hello. … Hi Wes. What's up? … Okay, we'll be there in half an hour or so." Buffy returned to the dining area where Dawn and her father were finishing off their breakfasts. "That was Wesley. He's got something on that Chucky-whatsit demon guy. He wants to talk to us. I told him we'd be there in half an hour." 

* * *

It took a little longer than half an hour. Dawn had insisted on having her own shower first. It was nearly ten when the three Summers entered the lobby of the Hyperion hotel. Dawn looked around. "This place is so cool!" 

Buffy looked around the lobby. She could see Lorne on the balcony overlooking it. He took one long look at Dawn, before he turned around and left. She frowned. That wasn't the sort of reaction she liked seeing to her sister. 

Wesley came out of the office. "Ah, Buffy, you're here." 

"In the flesh," said Buffy. "Where's everyone?" She couldn't help notice that Wesley looked like he hadn't been to sleep yet. 

"Cordelia went home, but she should be back any time now. Fred packed it in at about four AM, but I think I heard some movement from her room a little while ago. Gunn and Angel got in just before sunrise. I don't expect to see Gunn again until after noon…" Wesley looked toward the stairs. "…but here comes Angel now." 

"How about you?" asked Buffy. "Doesn't look like you got much sleep." 

"Oh, I'm fine," said Wesley. 

"You really should get some sleep Wesley," said Angel. "We might need everyone at their sharpest tonight." 

"I can get some rest after I've filled you in on what we've learned," said Wesley. He looked around at the computer. "But we really need Fred to run that infernal machine." 

"God, you sound like Giles." Dawn moved toward Fred's computer on the reception desk. "Let me at it." Dawn stopped and looked embarrassed. "Uh, you don't think she'd mind me using her computer do you?" 

"Actually she told me that you'd know how to get everything out of it, before she went to bed," said Wesley. 

Dawn frowned. "Really?" She woke up the TiBook, and saw that she was looking at the login screen. There was an account named "Dawn" in between the ones for Cordelia and Fred. Dawn was struck with a nasty suspicion. She selected Fred's account, and typed in the password that she'd watched Fred type the night before. 

The login screen shook, and the password field cleared. Fred had changed her password. Dawn canceled out of that login, and clicked on her own name. The computer asked her for a password. Dawn typed in Fred's old password again. This time the computer let her in. 

"Why that little… She knew!" said Dawn. 

"Knew what?" asked Buffy. 

"Never mind," said Dawn. She briefly considered changing her password, but she decided not to bother. Fred probably had root access to this computer anyway. Dawn looked at the window that opened up in front of her. It contained one document, titled "Read Me.html" She double clicked on it. The web browser opened showing an index page full of links. The first one was labeled 'Chalajuaxis.' Dawn clicked on it. A new window opened showing a picture of a tentacled demon. 

"The demon Chalajuaxis, like many others, promises great power to its followers, given that they make the proper periodic sacrifices," said Wesley. "In the case of Chalajuaxis the sacrifices must be made every fifty years. It requires the deaths of twelve human beings. This sacrifice should take place on the night of the first full moon following the fifty year anniversary of the last sacrifice." 

"Should?" asked Buffy. 

"Should," said Wesley. "Chalajuaxis likes punctuality. The sacrifice must take place during the full moon, and a late sacrifice is unacceptable. Early sacrifices are not as effective in ensuring Chalajuaxis' pleasure, but they will forestall its wrath. Missing a sacrifice will bring down ruin on Chalajuaxis' followers." 

Dawn clicked on a link labeled 'Ephemeris.' "Next full moon is…tonight." 

"Yes," said Wesley. "Tonight is three months early, but it is much better to be early when dealing with Chalajuaxis than late. Three months early probably won't please it much, but it should keep it from eviscerating its followers." 

"So you think that Wolfram and Hart may do this sacrifice tonight?" asked Buffy. 

"Not Wolfram and Hart," said Dawn. She had been reading some more of the links Fred had left for her. "Looks like one of their clients." 

"Right," said Wesley. "Wolfram and Hart represents the Cult of Chalajuaxis, but they have only become clients recently. It seems that the cult screwed up, and forgot to pay their taxes. They lost control of the property, and after a couple more transfers it wound up in the hands of Harmon and Ross. They didn't hire Wolfram and Hart until a couple of months ago, which is good news for you." Wesley told Mr. Summers. "This isn't a Wolfram and Hart project, which means that if we can just get you past the deadline, your problems should be over. Wolfram and Hart's interest in you will be over, and Chalajuaxis will probably kill off the cultists itself." 

"Why is it so important that they do it before the building is demolished?" asked Buffy. 

"Chalajuaxis requires that all subsequent sacrifices take place in exactly the same location as the original sacrifice," said Wesley. "Chalajuaxis is a very picky demon." 

"So, if they're going to do it, it will have to be tonight," said Buffy. "Which means that they're probably looking for people to sacrifice already." 

"Have been for some time," said Angel. "A friend of ours runs a shelter for runaway teens. She told us a couple of days ago that several of her kids have vanished. No clues, they just disappeared. One or two deciding to move on somewhere else in a month without telling anyone isn't unusual. Half a dozen in a week gets her twitchy. These were kids that no one but Anne would miss. She knows the sort of stuff that really goes on, so she asked us to look into it. We hadn't made any progress, until now. Good news is that the missing kids are probably still alive…until tonight." 

"So, if we want to stop this thing we could burn the building down or something like that," said Dawn. "I haven't got to do that yet." 

"_You_ are still not going to get to do it," said Buffy. "You and Dad are going to be staying someplace safe." 

"Come on. You'd burned down two buildings by the time you were my age," said Dawn. "You get all the fun." 

"Dawn, burning down buildings is not fun," said Buffy. "It tends to lead to long conversations with police and fire marshals and other completely humourless people. If we do burn this building down, you won't be anywhere nearby when we do it, and we'll have to check it out first. Make sure that there aren't any homeless people living in the basement now, or anything like that." 

"Shouldn't be," said Hank. "We've got some rent-a-cops guarding it to keep people out. You wouldn't believe the law suits that can happen if someone stubs their toe." 

"Rent-a-cops?" asked Dawn. She clicked back a few links. "They wouldn't be from Pinnacle Security by any chance?" 

"Maybe," said Hank. "I'm not sure. The name sounds familiar. Why?" 

"Pinnacle Security is on the list of companies owned by various members of the cult," said Dawn. "Looks like you've got the foxes guarding the henhouse." 

"Ah!" said Buffy. "Which also makes it a likely place for them to be keeping their sacrifices until they're needed. We are _definitely_ not burning that building down without taking a really good look at it first." 

"We burning something down?" asked Gunn. He and Fred were coming down the stairs into the lobby. 

"Probably not," said Angel. "But we may have some good news for Anne. We think we know what's been happening to her kids. If we're right, they should still be alive." 

"She'll be happy to hear that," said Gunn. 

"So, here's the plan," said Buffy. "I want to check this place out. Start with a basic recon, just see what's there. It's a little sunny out, so Angel will have to stay behind. He won't be able to do much hiding under a blanket. Dawn can stay here too, maybe she and Fred can do more digging. I'm thinking that Wesley looks like he could use a nap, we might need everyone fresh tonight. Gunn's with me. Dad…" Buffy really didn't know what to do with her father. 

"I'm coming with you, Honey," said Hank Summers. 

"Dad—" 

"No," said Hank Summers. "I am coming with you. Above and beyond your being my daughter, whatever is happening is happening because of something I am doing. I have to see this through." 

* * *

Gunn had asked that they stop in at the East Hills Teen Center. He wanted to tell Annie that they might have a line on her missing kids, and to see if she had any more information herself. He told Buffy that Annie was one of his best sources for information on strange goings on. She had lines that fed her information from half of the L.A. County underground. "She also knows all about the demon stuff. She helped me and Alona out a lot when we first came to L.A. We wouldn't have survived the first year without her." 

Gunn was looking for someone to ask where Anne was when Buffy heard a familiar voice behind her. "_Buffy?_" 

Buffy spun around. "_Lily!_" The two girls grabbed each other in a hug. "God it's good to see you!" Buffy and Lily kept hugging. 

"Um…I guess you guys already know each other," said Gunn. 

"Oh, Gunn. This is Anne!" said Anne. "The original I mean." 

"Huh?" said Gunn. 

"Anne's my middle name," said Buffy. "Last time I saw Lily here, I was using it." She looked back at her old friend, and remembered how they'd last parted. "You really decided to stick with it, eh?" 

"Give Annie half a chance and she'll tell anybody the story of how she picked her name because this girl named Anne saved her life one time," said Gunn. "That was you?" 

Buffy gave Lily another hug. "We saved each other's lives. I tried to reach you at the diner. They said you'd left, and you didn't leave a forwarding address at the apartment. I was worried about you!" 

"I only worked at the diner for a couple of weeks," said Anne. "It really wasn't my thing. I decided I wanted to help people, like you did, so I got a job here. We get a lot of turnover, and inside a year I found I was running the place. So how do you know Gunn?" 

"Turns out she's a friend of Angel's," said Gunn. 

"Oh." Buffy saw a sour expression cross Anne's face. "So how do you know Angel?" she asked Buffy. 

"Angel is kinda the reason I was hiding out in L.A., calling myself 'Anne.'" said Buffy. "I take it you aren't a fan." 

"Annie first met Angel during his low period," said Gunn. "It was when his vendetta with Wolfram and Hart was at its peak, and he tried to use Annie and the Center to get to them. None of us was liking him much at the time. Annie still hasn't forgiven him." 

Buffy heard her father clear his throat. "Ahem!" 

"Oh, I'm sorry!" said Buffy. "Lily—I guess it's Anne now—this is my dad. Hank Summers." 

Anne shook his hand. "How do you do Mr. Summers. A pleasure to meet you." 

"And you…Anne. I am certainly meeting a varied assortment of my daughter's friends this weekend." 

"Dad just got introduced to the whole vampires and demons thing," said Buffy. "He's still shell shocked." 

"It is a lot to take in," said Anne. "So, Gunn, since you obviously weren't bringing my old friend around to meet me, what are you doing here?" 

"We may have a lead on your disappearing kids," said Gunn. "If we're right it's kind of a good news and bad news type of deal. The good news is that they're still alive. The bad news is that they're scheduled to be sacrificed to a demon tonight. We were wondering if you heard any more." 

"A couple of more kids didn't turn up last night," said Anne. "That brings the total to eight." 

"They need twelve," said Buffy. 

"Doesn't mean they don't have twelve," said Anne. "We help all we can, but there are too many kids out there for us to even hope to keep track of them all…plus there are lots of kids who just drop out of sight for a week or a month, and then turn up again. Some of our missing might be some of those. That's why we can't get the cops to take us seriously. You really think they're still alive?" 

"We know that someone plans to sacrifice a dozen people, probably tonight," said Buffy. "We're on our way to check out where we think they're going to do it. If they're your kids, we'll get them out…even if they aren't your kids, we'll get them out." 

* * *

Buffy circled her Cherokee around the lot with the building that was scheduled to be demolished on Monday. Nothing out of the ordinary was visible from the outside. A deserted building, four stories high, with most of its windows boarded over. It was surrounded by a chain link fence with a few strands of barbed wire across the top to discourage kids from climbing it. There was a gate at the front with a guard shack, and one bored looking guard. 

Buffy parked a block away. "So how do we handle this?" 

"We could try the straight forward approach," said Hank. "This is supposed to be my project. We could just say that we're here to inspect things before work starts on Monday." 

"If there's really nothing happening here now, that would probably get us in," said Buffy. "If there's no one inside we could torch the place, and be gone before anyone could stop us. Problem solved." 

"Except for Annie's missing kids," said Gunn. "I doubt if these guys will just let them go, if they're keeping them someplace else." 

"Oh yeah," said Buffy. "I knew that sounded too simple…so no torching." 

* * *

Buffy pulled her Cherokee up to the gate. The guard took his time coming out of his shack. He was carrying a clipboard in his hand. 

Buffy gave him her best smile. "Hi! We're here for the pre-demolition inspection!" 

The guard took his time looking at his clipboard. "Nobody told me nothing about no pre-demolition inspections, and there ain't nothin' here on the board about it. What were your names?" 

"Oh! I'm Harmony Kendall!" said Buffy. "This is Forrest Gates and Mr. Snyder." 

The guard looked at the clipboard again. "Your names ain't here. I ain't supposed to let nobody in who ain't on my list." 

"Oh, I'm sure it's just a mistake," said Buffy. "Why don't you call Mr. Summers at Harmon and Ross. I'm sure he'll straighten you out." 

"I don't know no Mr. Summers neither," said the guard. "_My_ boss told me not to let no one in who ain't on my list." 

"I can't believe this!" said Gunn from the back seat. "I get called in to work on a Saturday, and the idiots back at the main office never tell you we're coming? What are those REMFs doing?" 

"I don't know," said the guard. "But I can't let you folks in here without you bein' on my list." 

* * *

Buffy pulled the Cherokee to a stop on the opposite side of the building. "So much for Plan A. Plan B: Gunn and I will sneak in, while Dad keeps watch." She looked at her father. "If we get into trouble, you have to get us out. Don't worry about scratching the paint or damaging the fence. Once we leave, move the car, just in case the guard takes a walk around. Park someplace where you have a clear view of this side of the building though. We'll try to come back out this side." 

Buffy got out of the driver's seat and went around to the back, while her father slid over, and Gunn got out too. She opened the back hatch, and opened what looked like a large tool chest. It had tools in it, but Gunn saw that it mostly contained an assortment of weapons. Buffy ignored them, and selected a heavy duty pair of wire cutters. She handed them to Gunn. She closed the tool chest, and the hatch, and gave the back of the Cherokee a slap. "Get going!" She was pleased with how quickly her father pulled away. 

Gunn ran across the street, and selected a piece of fence that was slightly sheltered from prying eyes by a telephone pole. He had a quick look around to see if anyone seemed to be watching before he started cutting a hole in the fence, while Buffy kept watch. 

Gunn soon had a hole big enough. He squeezed through, and looked back for Buffy. She'd vanished. 

"Come on!" said Buffy. 

Gunn spun around. Buffy was already inside the fence. "Wait a minute. How'd you…?" Buffy was already running across the open space to the boarded over windows on the ground floor of the building. 

Gunn stuck the cutters into his jacket pocket and ran after Buffy. "How'd you do that?" 

Buffy ignored the question. She was looking for a way into the building. All of the ground floor windows had been boarded over, but several of the second storey windows were uncovered, and had the glass broken out of them. She pointed one of them out to Gunn. "I think we can get in there." 

"Yeah, sure," said Gunn. "I could boost you up to it, but then how would I get in?" 

Buffy held her hands down to make a step for Gunn, and smiled. "Actually, I was planning to boost you." 

Gunn remembered Wesley telling him that this little girl had beat Angel in a fight to the death once, and a few of the other stories he'd heard over the years from Wes, Angel and Cordy about what they had experienced in Sunnydale, and refrained from further comment. He put his foot into Buffy's hands, and let her boost him. 

Her strength still took him by surprise. Gunn was expecting to have to catch the ledge beneath the window, and pull himself up, but Buffy lifted him high enough that he was able to catch the bottom of the frame, and pull himself in. She appeared in the window as soon as he was clear of it. 

The room was empty of furnishings. There was broken glass and pigeon droppings on the floor. The walls were cracked, and covered with peeling wallpaper. Buffy moved silently to the inner door. Gunn followed her, aware of how much noise the broken glass made under his feet. 

Buffy opened the door, and winced as the hinges squeaked. She stopped to listen for any sign that anyone else had heard it. She heard nothing but wind blowing through broken windows, and the occasional cooing of pigeons. She moved through the door into the anteroom of the office that they'd come in through. 

Buffy had a quick look around. This seemed to be some sort of waiting room for a suite of offices, but the furnishings were long gone. There wasn't any broken glass on the floor here, so Gunn was able to move almost as silently as Buffy had. They crossed to the doorway into the hall. This one was already open, so Buffy didn't have to risk the noise from squeaking hinges. 

Buffy peeked out into the hallway. It was dark, and empty. "Left or right?" she asked Gunn. 

Gunn looked both ways down the hall. There didn't seem to be much of a choice. Both ways looked pretty much the same. "Don't seem to make much difference." 

"Left it is," said Buffy, and moved off down the hall. 

Gunn followed Buffy to the end of the hall. A fire door opened into a stairwell. They started down. 

Buffy froze on the landing half way down to the ground floor. She'd heard something below her. She held up her hand to stop Gunn, and was gratified that he did without making any comment. She peered over the railing, and saw a man sitting in a chair by the door just below them. He seemed to be napping, but he had an automatic pistol in a shoulder holster. 

Buffy pointed up, and she and Gunn returned to the second floor, where they had a whispered conference in the hall. 

"They've got a guard in this stairwell," said Buffy. "They probably have one in the other one too. If they've got the people in the basement those are probably the only exits. So how do we get in?" 

"Elevator shafts," said Gunn. "The power's off, they won't be running. Why guard them?" 

"Worth a try," said Buffy. She moved down the hall toward the center of the building. 

There was a pair of elevator doors half way down the hallway. Buffy looked at them. "Eenie, meenie, minie, moe!" She pointed to the doors on the right. 

Buffy went to the elevator doors, and worked her fingers into the crack between them. She closed her eyes and made a silent prayer to whatever powers looked over the Slayer, and pulled them apart. The doors parted with hardly any noise at all. 

It still sounded much too loud to both of them. They held their breaths, and waited, listening to see if there was any reaction to the noise. After half a minute they both started to breathe again. 

The hallway was dark, with only a little light coming in through some open doors, but the elevator shaft was pitch black. Even Buffy couldn't see anything. She pulled a small flashlight out of her jacket pocket, and turned it on. She shone it down the shaft. She could see the top of the elevator car a floor beneath her. "This seems to be our lucky day." she told Gunn. "The elevator is in the basement." She shone the light around the shaft some more. "No convenient ladders though. Looks like I use the cables." 

Buffy turned off her flashlight, and reached out and felt the cable. She was relieved to feel just cool steel under her fingers. It wasn't greased or anything like that. She grabbed the cable and swung herself out onto it. 

Buffy climbed down the cable until she reached the roof of the elevator car, one floor below her. "Come on!" she whispered up to Gunn. "I'll catch you!" 

Gunn didn't bother with the cable. He lowered himself over the lip of the elevator door. Buffy caught him and lowered him down to the top of the car. 

Buffy flipped on her flashlight again for a moment, and shone it around the top of the car. She spotted the hatch. She turned off the light before she tried to open it. 

Buffy opened the hatch in the elevator roof a crack. She was a little surprised to see that the car below her was dimly lit. She peered through the crack, but didn't see anything. She opened the hatch the rest of the way, and poked her head down through it. The light was coming through the open elevator doors. She could hear the muffled sound of voices now too. 

Buffy pulled her head back up, and closed the hatch. "Oh, this is just too easy." she whispered to Gunn. 

"If it's an ambush, it's probably for Angel," said Gunn. "And they won't be expecting him until after sunset. We may have lucked out." 

"One way to find out." Buffy opened the hatch, and swung herself down through it. Gunn followed a few seconds later. Buffy peered out the elevator doors. 

The elevator opened into a large open area. The light was coming from some battery powered camp lanterns. She could see half a dozen demons standing around. They seemed to be watching over a small group of people who were down on their hands and knees, scrubbing the floor. The people doing the scrubbing looked to be teenagers to Buffy. 

The demons were of a species that Buffy wasn't familiar with. Bipedal, scalely, greenish, about human size. Just your regular demons. The only thing that struck her as unusual was that a couple of them seemed to be carrying guns. 

One of the demons kicked a girl on the floor. "You missed a spot!" it told her. It pointed to the offending piece of floor. The girl took her brush, and went back to rescrub the place it indicated. 

Buffy risked sticking her head out of the elevator doors for a better look around. She pulled her head back quickly. No way she was going to be able to get out of the elevator to see more without being seen. There were half a dozen kids on the floor, only half the number needed for the sacrifice, but a couple of demons seemed to be standing guard on a door to the left. She guessed that the rest of the sacrifices were in there. 

Buffy considered the possibility of mounting a rescue now, but she didn't like the odds. At least two of the demons she could see had guns, and she knew that the guards on the stairwells did too. She knew she could take the two armed demons she could see before they could fire, but the others would raise the alarm, and more would come. If anyone started shooting, kids would probably die. 

Buffy glanced at Gunn. He had seen what she'd seen, and she could tell that he had come to pretty much the same conclusions that she had. She pointed back toward the hatch. He nodded. 

There was one last thing Buffy wanted to do before she left. She pulled out her cell phone, and opened it up. She checked the signal level shown on the display. 

* * *

Hank sat in the Jeep parked half way down the next block. He kept the engine running, and he had a good view of the north side of the building where Buffy and Gunn had entered, as well as the west side. He wondered what the heck he was doing there. His entire world had been turned upside down in last twenty-four hours. His daughters had become strangers, and things that he thought were the province of B movies were real. 

The two years he'd spent in Europe certainly hadn't helped. He knew he should have kept in touch. He didn't understand why he hadn't. He hadn't even found out that Joyce was dead until months after it had happened. When he had finally learned about it and contacted his daughters the damage was done. Neither of them came right out and said it, but it was clear to him that they didn't want their father around anymore. He had offered to come back to the U.S. but they had both told him that they were just fine without him. He should have come right back anyway, but something—in his more self critical moods he called it cowardice—had kept him away. He had really hoped that this weekend would help to heal the rift that had grown between him and his daughters. He had even picked up three tickets to the ice show for tonight. He remembered how Buffy had loved figure skating, how he'd always take her for her birthday, but that tradition had died several years before. The last time they'd gone had been just before her seventeenth birthday. 

Now Buffy was a young woman, self assured, commanding even. He'd noticed the way people jumped when she started giving orders, even people who didn't seem to know her. He knew that Buffy had known Wesley, Angel and Cordelia for some time, but she'd just met this Gunn fellow last night, and Gunn was jumping when Buffy said "frog." Buffy even had him jumping. He couldn't imagine that he would have sat waiting, keeping the engine going in the getaway car, two days ago. 

Dawn it seemed had changed even more. When she was younger she had been a very shy girl who seemed to just blend into her surroundings. She was the girl that no one noticed, especially when her big sister was around. She hadn't had any close friends. She seemed to be that way right up until her fourteenth birthday. Many of his friends from before the divorce barely seemed to remember her at all. A couple of old acquaintances that he'd mentioned this visit to hadn't even remembered that he had a second daughter. She had certainly blossomed over the past couple of years. He noticed that the guys especially were noticing her now. She had become much more outgoing. She seemed to hit it off right away with that Fred girl, and she'd talked about several of her friends back in Sunnydale during yesterday afternoon. 

That afternoon already seemed to have happened in a different world. It was a world where there was no such thing as vampires. Buffy burning down the school gym was just stupid teenage stuff, not part of some great battle between the forces of Good and Evil. Wolfram and Hart was just a bunch of annoying lawyers. 

He was still having problems believing it, despite what he'd seen. That vampire in his apartment. Buffy's demonstration of her strength last night. Even watching her jump up to that second storey window just fifteen minutes ago. It had looked like something out of _The Bionic Woman_, without the slow motion, or sound effects. He kept expecting to wake up from the dream, maybe find himself in the hospital recovering from the concussion that guy had given him when he bounced Hank's head off the wall, with a couple of normal daughters waiting anxiously by his bedside. 

Hank came out of his reverie. He'd seen some motion at the window that Buffy and Gunn had entered the building through. He saw Gunn lower himself from the ledge, and drop to the ground, followed by Buffy jumping. He checked his mirrors for traffic, and put the Jeep into gear. Neither of them seemed to be in a hurry, so he guessed that they hadn't been spotted. He pulled away from the curb, and drove down the block to pick them up. 


	6. Chapter 5

**_Chapter 5: In which Hank goes to an ice show, while Buffy saves the day_**

They arrived back at the Hyperion Hotel late in the afternoon. Buffy saw that everyone was gathered in the lobby. Dawn and Fred were working at the computer, Cordy and Wesley had their noses in some old books. 

Angel looked up from the sword he was sharpening by his weapons cabinet. "How did it go?" 

"We got in and out without being seen," said Buffy. "They are definitely preparing to do the ceremony tonight. In addition to the rent-a-cop doing guard duty outside at the gate they have armed guards inside." She took the plans from her father that they had picked up at his office on the way back, and rolled them out on the reception counter. She pointed to the eastern stairwell. "We saw one guy here, and there's probably another one in the other stairwell too. We saw half a dozen demon guards in the basement, and some of them had guns too." 

"What sort of demons?" asked Wesley. 

"Didn't recognise 'em." Buffy gave a description, with Gunn filling in a couple of details. Wesley didn't recognise the description. 

"These your guys?" Dawn swung the TiBook around so Buffy and Gunn could see the picture on the laptop screen, from the _Demons, Demons, Demons Database_. 

"Yep, that's them," said Gunn. 

"Kragmoors," said Fred. "According to this they're your basic mercenaries. They'll work for anyone who can pay them. Considered highly reliable, once they've accepted a contract they won't betray their employers for any payment. They are loyal, up to a point, but they aren't original thinkers. They will not take heavy losses in combat without retreating. They mostly rely on intimidation. 

"Diet… Yech, let's skip that… They're tough, they can withstand a lot of damage, but they are vulnerable to most standard weapons. Beheading, and sharp objects through their hearts will kill them almost instantly…their hearts are down low…about where their belly buttons would be, if they had belly buttons. Stabbing in other areas will mostly just make them mad. 

"Some have adapted to using more modern weapons than your typical demon. They will use guns, but they mostly prefer old fashioned maiming with claws and teeth." 

"Okay." Buffy flipped to the sheet of the plans showing the basement. "The ceremony takes place here. It looks like they're keeping their sacrifices in this room here." She pointed out the guarded room on the plan. "We hit them right after sunset. Two teams, one with me, the other with Angel…" Buffy outlined her plan. It was simple and straight forward. Angel and the others interjected from time to time to ask questions, or make suggestions but they were done quickly. 

"Just one question remains," said Buffy. "Who's on my team?" 

"I am!" said Dawn right away. 

"No you're not!" said Buffy. She could see that her father was starting to object to that one too. "You and Dad are going to be spending some quality time together. You can go to a movie or something. I don't want either one of you anywhere near this." Buffy could see that her father was about to raise a fresh objection. "Dad, if we bring you, what do we do with Dawn?" 

"But—" 

Buffy cut her sister off. "No! That's final. You and _Dad_ are not coming." 

Buffy saw Dawn's eyes widen a touch, and the wheels start to turn behind her eyes. She had gotten the message. It was Dad that Buffy didn't want coming, and there was no way to leave him behind and take Dawn, so tonight Dawn got the job of babysitting their father. 

Buffy looked back at her father. "I don't want you hanging around the apartment, or here either. That Morgan woman might try something again, so I want you away from anywhere she might know to look for you." 

Hank felt at the pocket inside his jacket. "I was planning to take both of you to _Stars on Ice_ tonight. It was going to be a surprise. I guess two of these tickets won't be wasted after all." 

"Give me one of them," said Buffy. "If this goes off on schedule, I should be able to make the second half." She turned her attention back to Angel. "Which gets us back to my question. Who's on my team?" 

"I guess you know Wes and Cordy best," said Angel. "I'll take Gunn and Fred." 

"Sounds good," said Buffy. She looked at Wesley and Cordelia. "Do you guys have any sort of training area set up? I want to see what you've learned since you left Sunnydale." 

* * *

The sun had almost set when they pulled to a stop in Angel and Cordy's cars where Hank had parked earlier that afternoon. Gunn looked back into the back seat of the GTX. "We're in the shade, you can come out now." 

Angel tossed aside the blanket, and sat up. He had a quick look around. The entire street was shaded from there to their destination. He, Gunn and Fred got out of his car while Cordy, Wes and Buffy got out of hers. 

Angel went around to the trunk of his car, and pulled out a couple of equipment bags. One went to Fred, and the other to Cordelia. "Okay. Let's go." 

They all moved off down the street to the hole that Gunn had cut in the fence, and squeezed through. They moved quickly across to the window. 

Buffy jumped up first, and then caught the two equipment bags when Angel tossed them up to her. He then boosted up Fred, Cordy, Wes and Gunn. Buffy caught their hands and lifted them up through the window. Angel jumped up last. They all moved out to the hallway. 

"Okay," said Buffy quietly. "See you all downstairs." She took Wesley and Cordelia to the left, while Angel, Gunn and Fred went right. 

* * *

Buffy moved silently down the stairs to the landing. She stopped and listened. She could hear a muffled chanting coming from below. It sounded like the ritual had started. Wesley's research had shown that the summoning spell for Chalajuaxis was a long one. It started at sunset, and culminated with the sacrifice at midnight. It was also very dangerous for Chalajuaxis' disciples to begin the spell, and then let it get interrupted. The demon didn't like being disturbed, and then not getting its sacrifice. 

Buffy peered over the railing. The guard was seated right where she'd seen him before. Buffy spent half a second considering trying to sneak closer, before she jumped over the railing. She landed on the floor directly in front of him, grabbed his collar, and hit him in the face with a quick punch. He slumped back unconscious. 

Wesley and Cordelia came down the stairs right behind her. Cordy pulled a couple of the plastic ties police used when they were out of handcuffs out the bag and she and Wesley quickly bound the guard's hands and feet with them. Cordy put a piece of duct tape across his mouth. Wesley took his gun. He checked the action, and ejected the clip to make sure that it was fully loaded. He replaced the clip and slipped the gun into his belt. He went through the doors onto the ground floor. 

Wesley came back a half a minute later. "Ground floor's clear. Gunn tells me Angel got the guard in the other stairwell. Time for step two." 

Buffy nodded, and continued down the stairs into the basement. Very little of the fading daylight was filtering down the stairwell to here. Buffy could barely see. She was thankful for the growing volume of the chanting, it made it less likely that anyone would hear them if they tripped over something. 

Their plan hit its first snag at the bottom of the stairs. The door was closed, and when Buffy tried to open it, she discovered it was locked as well. It had a window in it, and Buffy cautiously looked through. The corridor on the other side was pitch black. There was no help for it. Buffy grasped the door handle and waited for a particularly loud part in the chanting before she pulled. 

The splintering door frame sounded much too loud to all of them, but now was not the time to wait to see if anyone had heard it. They ran down the hallway to the door at the opposite end. This door didn't have a window. 

Buffy felt her cell phone vibrating as they reached the door. She pulled it out of her pocket and checked the caller ID. It was Fred. "They're in position," she told Wes and Cordy. "Signal them." 

Cordy took out her phone and hit the speed dial for Angel, while Wes pulled a couple of crossbows out of their bag. He loaded both, and handed one to Buffy. He also gave her a short sword for her other hand. 

Buffy had been silently counting the seconds from when Cordy had called Angel. On ten she kicked open the door. 

Buffy went low through the door, with Wesley behind her. There was a Kragmoor demon right beside the door and she sank her sword into its stomach while it was still turning to see what the noise was. 

Buffy raised her crossbow, and scanned the room, from left to right, looking for demons with guns. They had to take those out first. She spotted one and fired her crossbow bolt into its heart. She heard the sound of Wesley firing, taking out a demon on the right. 

Buffy's eyes continued to scan the room while she reloaded. She couldn't see any more demons with guns. The camp lanterns had been replaced by torches, and there was a circle of people in white robes gathered in the center of the room, chanting. Some of them were looking around to see what was going on, but they hadn't given up their ceremony yet. She could see Angel and Gunn by the door at the far end of the room. They had taken out more of the Kragmoors at their end. Buffy could see that there were already six of the demons down. 

One of the demons charged at Buffy with a sword. She fired her crossbow at it but her shot missed its heart. She parried its attack with her sword, and sliced off its head. She heard Wesley's gun bark twice, and another demon fell dead, with two holes in its head. The two remaining demons dropped their weapons, and fell to their knees. 

"Wes, keep them covered," said Buffy. She started toward the circle of chanting people. Angel was moving toward them as well. She hadn't been able to see them clearly before, but as she got closer Buffy could see that the kids for the sacrifice were already stretched out naked on the floor, their hands and feet bound together with ropes, and gags over their mouths. For a moment she thought she might be too late, but she saw several terrified eyes looking toward her. 

The rhythm had gone out of the chanting, but the robed people were more afraid of what Chalajuaxis would do to them if they quit than they were of the armed people who had defeated their demonic bodyguards so quickly. They weren't going to stop of their own accord. 

There were twelve white hooded, robed figures around the wheel of victims, and one in the center of the circle, dressed in red. Buffy stepped through the circle, and raised her sword to the throat of person in the center. She could feel Angel entering the circle behind her, watching her back to make sure none of the chanters tried anything. "You've got a choice," said Buffy. "You can die now, or you can stop, and maybe be able to run and hide before Chalajuaxis finds you. You have three seconds…two…one…" 

"_Stop!_" Buffy was mildly surprised that it was a familiar woman's voice that spoke. The chanting died out around her. Lilah Morgan lifted her hands and pulled back the hood of her robe. "It seems that I seriously misjudged you Miss Summers." 

Buffy reached out and pulled the knife out of Lilah's belt, but she kept her sword tip pressed against her throat. "That you did." She nodded toward the wall, and raised her voice. "Now all of you move over there and get on your knees, facing the wall, hands on your heads!" Buffy could see that several of the chanters glanced at Lilah for directions. "She's not giving the orders here people! Move! _Now!_" 

It took a second, but the first of the chanters broke from the circle, and the others quickly followed and did as they were told. "You too," Buffy told Lilah, and pressed her sword a little harder against her throat. Lilah moved off after the others. 

Buffy left Angel guarding the chanters while Fred and Cordelia quickly bound their hands behind their backs, and relieved them of the knives in their belts. She tossed the knife she'd taken away from Lilah to Gunn. "Free the guys. I'll do the girls." 

Gunn started to move around the outside of the circle, cutting the ropes tying the guys' wrists and ankles together while Buffy went back into the center of the circle and did the same for the girls, using her sword to first free all their wrists, and then moving around the outside to free their legs. Some of the kids managed to get their own gags off, as soon as their hands were freed, but Buffy and Gunn had to help most of them. Soon there were a dozen boys and girls sitting huddled, whimpering and shivering on the floor, trying to cover their nakedness with their hands. 

Buffy was tempted to go strip the robes off the chanters, but she realized that she should have thought of that before they got them all tied up. "Do you know where your clothes are?" she asked one of the calmer looking girls. 

The girl pointed to the door to the room where they had been held captive. "Th—they—they made us get undressed in th—there." 

Fred and Cordelia instantly went to the room, and came back soon after with arm loads of clothing. It took a couple of trips to bring back all the clothes, and a couple more for the shoes and socks. There was a scramble as the kids tried to find their own clothes, and put them on. Buffy noticed when they were done that most of the underwear was left behind, and that some of the kids were wearing pants that were too small, or too big for them. No one volunteered to switch. 

Buffy checked her watch. They were pretty much right on schedule. She took out her phone and dialed a number. "We got 'em, you all set? … Okay, they're on their way." Buffy closed her phone and put it back in her pocket. "Okay, Fred and Cordy, take them out," said Buffy. "Anne's waiting for you out front." 

Buffy watched as Fred and Cordelia herded the kids toward the exit. They had arranged with Anne to have some transportation standing by to take them back to the Teen Center, once they were freed. Once they were all gone she turned her attention to the two demons that Wesley was guarding. They had their hands bound behind their backs too now. Gunn had joined him. "What do we do with these?" she asked. Captive demons wasn't one of the things she usually had to deal with. 

"We could just kill 'em," said Gunn. "They are demons." 

"We surrendered to you!" said one of the demons. "You would dishonour yourselves if you killed us now." 

"You guys consider yourselves honourable, huh?" asked Buffy. She did a quick review of what Dawn's research had turned up on these guys in her mind. It did seem to fit. "So what would the honourable thing be for us to do with you?" 

"Our clan will ransom us." 

Buffy remembered that in medieval times, captured soldiers—especially the nobles—were often ransomed. "Sounds promising…what do you think you're worth? And before you answer that, let me tell you that I'm only interested in hard human currencies. No kittens!" 

"Kittens?" asked Gunn. 

"For some reason the Sunnydale demon underground switched over to a kitten standard a year or so back," said Buffy. "I have no idea why." 

The demons had started conferring quietly in their own language. 

"Hey!" said Buffy. "If you're going to talk, talk something we understand." 

"I was just finding out what the exchange rate was this week," said the demon spokesman. "Our clan will ransom us for $10,000." 

Buffy suspected that that was just an opening position. They could get a lot more. "We'll talk," she told them. "I guess these two are going back to the hotel. Get 'em out of here. Take the west stairwell, and take the guard there out with you." 

Wesley nudged the demons to their feet, and then away toward the exit. Buffy turned her attention back to the group still on their knees facing the wall, with Angel guarding them. She walked over to Lilah Morgan. "How much were you paying the Kragmoors?" 

"What?" asked Lilah. 

"How much were you paying them?" 

"Ten demons, five thousand a week each, for two weeks service. Half paid in advance." 

"So, they've collected $50,000 from you. I knew he was lowballing me…I think I'll give Anya a call, have her handle the negotiations." 

"Negotiations?" asked Angel. 

"Our demon prisoners tell me that their clan will ransom them," said Buffy. "They offered 10,000 but I don't think we should let them take any profit from this little venture. I'll sic Anya on 'em." 

"Anya the Vengeance Demon?" 

"Also Anya the cutthroat business person," said Buffy. "And she knows how to do business with demons. She'll get us the best deal." Buffy looked down the row of prisoners. "So what do we do with these?" 

"I say we leave that in the tentacles of Chalajuaxis," said Angel. "I'm sure it will be much less forgiving of them than we will." 

"What about her?" Buffy nodded toward Lilah Morgan. 

"Hmm…Wolfram and Hart may have the clout to keep Chalajuaxis from killing her, but it will probably be expensive for them," said Angel. "They don't like it when their people cost them…She might be better off throwing herself at Chalajuaxis' mercy. It might have more." 

Buffy put the tip of her sword under Lilah's chin, and lifted it up so that she was looking Buffy in the eyes. "Okay, listen up. If you live through this, I want you to understand something. You go _near_ my father, or my sister again, and I promise you will die. If my father should die of anything other than natural causes at an advanced age, I'll assume you had something to do with, and you will die. Do you understand me?" 

Lilah nodded. 

"I also want you to understand that I have a lot of friends," said Buffy. "Many of them are not human, some of them are older and harder to kill than a vampire like Angel here. They will know about my promise to you, and if for some reason I am not able to keep it personally, they will keep it for me. Do you understand that?" 

Lilah nodded again. 

"Okay. On your feet, all of you." 

The prisoners all got to their feet. Some of them had a little trouble doing it with their hands still tied behind their backs. Angel picked up one of their equipment bags, and Buffy grabbed the second. She put her sword into it, and then took one of the torches that was illuminating the basement room. "Take 'em out." she told Angel, and nodded toward the east door. 

Buffy stopped when she reached the door. Angel went ahead with the prisoners. Buffy put the bag back down, and started pulling out glass bottles. She threw them around the basement room. They shattered on impact, spreading their contents across the floor. 

Angel shouted down that everyone was clear. Buffy tossed the torch into the middle of the pool of gasoline. She grabbed the bag and ran down the hall. 

* * *

Wesley, Gunn, Cordelia and Fred were waiting by the cars when Buffy and Angel got back to them. The two Kragmoor demons were sitting in the back of Angel's GTX, their hands still tied behind their backs, and held in the seats by the seatbelts. 

Buffy looked back toward the building. Flames were starting to show in some of the ground floor windows. "You know, if those demonic cults would just switch over to modern lighting, there'd be so many fewer fires. Torches are so dangerous. I think we should get out of here before the Fire Department shows up." 

Angel and Gunn got into his car, while the others all got into Cordelia's. They were a couple of blocks away before they heard the sirens. 


	7. Epilogue

**_Epilogue: In which Hank learns that Buffy still isn't telling him everything_**

It was after nine when Cordelia dropped Buffy off in front of the STAPLES Center. The Kragmoor demons were locked up back at the hotel, and Buffy had put in a call to Anya. She promised to be there first thing in the morning to handle the negotiations. Cordelia had been a little put out to learn that Buffy had called in an "outsider." She considered the finances of Angel Investigations to be her territory. Buffy had finally agreed to let her partner with Anya in the negotiations. She almost felt sorry for the demons. Of course Anya had insisted on getting a commission for her services, and Buffy had agreed to pay Anya 10% of her cut. She didn't bother telling Anya that she planned to hand most of the money over to Anne to take care of the kids who'd been kidnapped, so Anya would be getting less than she anticipated. 

Jamie Salé and David Pelletier were doing their routine when Buffy entered the arena. She waited on the steps for them to finish so she wouldn't block anyone's view. She made her way to her seat while the crowd applauded. 

Buffy dropped into the empty seat beside her father. "I made it! So, did I miss Scott?" 

"He was amazing!" said Dawn. "I'm beginning to understand why you like skating so much!" 

Hank could see Buffy's disappointment. "Don't worry Honey." He handed her the program he'd bought for her. "He's scheduled to come back for the final performance. How'd it go with you?" 

"Great!" said Buffy. "Monsters slain, damsels rescued, bad guys on the run, and no casualties among the good guys. Even looks like I'm going to make some money. Anya will be so pleased. She keeps telling me I should charge for my services." Buffy could see the confused look on her father's face, and a person in the row ahead looked around curiously. "I'll explain later." She reached across and grabbed a handful of popcorn out of the jumbo tub in Dawn's lap, and sat back to watch as Katarina Witt skated out onto the ice. 

* * *

It was noon when they returned to the Hyperion Hotel the next day. They were just in time to see their two prisoners being handed over to their clansdemons in exchange for a case full of money. Buffy was a little surprised to see that Xander was there too, but she figured he'd been roped into driving Anya down from Sunnydale. Buffy waited until after the demons had gone before she introduced her father to Anya and Xander. "So how much did we get?" 

"A hundred thousand dollars." Anya beamed. "Turns out you caught their chieftain's favourite nephew. That gave us a very strong negotiating position." 

"You know, I don't think I've ever seen a hundred thousand in cash," said Xander. "What does it look like?" 

Anya put the case on the counter and opened it up. It was full of bundles of twenty dollar bills. Two deep, and five across. She took out one of the bundles and thumbed through it. "A thousand to a bundle…each layer has ten bundles…" She dug down through the layers. "…and ten layers." She pulled another bundle out of the center, and thumbed through it as well. "Looks like it's all here." 

"Wow!" said Dawn. "That's a lot of money!" 

"It is," said Buffy. She counted out ten of the bundles and slid them across the counter toward Angel. "Here's your share…" She counted out another ten bundles. "…and mine." She handed one of her bundles to Anya. "Your commission." She closed the case again. "The rest goes to Anne." 

"Wait a minute!" said Anya. "Who's this Anne person, and what did she do to earn _eighty thousand dollars!_" 

"Anne is a friend, and she's going to see that this money goes to help the kids that those demons kidnapped," said Buffy. "Don't argue with me on this. You got a thousand dollars for half a day's work. That's doing pretty well." 

"Sounds like a bloody socialist to me." muttered Anya. "She's probably French too." 

"Ahn, don't make a fuss," said Xander. 

"Now that business has been taken care of, why don't I treat you all to lunch?" asked Mr. Summers. "I feel I owe you—" He was interrupted by his cell phone ringing. "Just a moment." He took it out and frowned at the display. "They weren't supposed to call for anything short of a major crisis…" He opened up his phone. "Hank Summers." 

Hank listened for a moment, and then his gaze moved to Buffy. "Uh huh? Was anyone hurt? … That's good. Do they have any idea what caused it? … Really? I thought we had security on the site to prevent that sort of thing. … You don't say. We should have legal look into getting our money back from them, maybe collect damages for the delay this is going to cause. … Yeah, put the crews back on standby until the fire marshals are done with their investigation. Thanks for the heads up. I'll be in the office first thing tomorrow. I'll talk to you then. … Bye." 

Hank closed his phone. "Buffy, you didn't mention anything about any fire last night." 

Buffy put on her most innocent smile. "Fire?" 


End file.
